Trump and Harris’ positions on global issues

An The next president’s immediate task will be to contain the expanding war in the Middle East and achieve a ceasefire to free hostages captured in Israel and held by militants in the Gaza Strip, while increasing aid to Palestinians living in conditions that top UN officials have described as “apocalyptic”.

Trump has widely called for an end to the war in Gaza, but has not clearly outlined a path to that end. Privately, he has offered support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his country’s offensive against Hamas and Hezbollah, telling him in a recent call to “do what you have to do.” James Carafano, a fellow at the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation and part of the first Trump administration’s presidential transition team, said that “I don’t think a ceasefire (in Gaza) is his priority” and that Trump probably “won’t be any or restrict Israel in the way it responds or threatens to respond” to Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas.

Harris spoke forcefully about the suffering of Palestinians during the war. The Washington Post said that if she wins, she would likely conduct a “full review” of US-Israel policy and could raise the possibility of imposing conditions on some aid to Israel. But Israeli officials are divided over how much they think Harris will change President Joe Biden’s military support policy. Israel will likely continue “pretty much as it sees fit” if Harris wins, Brian Katulis, a senior fellow on U.S. foreign policy at the Middle East Institute, told The Post.

Harris’ campaign said she would defend U.S. alliances, including the NATO military bloc, which she called “iron.” However, European officials say they see Harris, despite four years as vice president, as a relative unknown who may not have the same substantive and emotional attachment to NATO as Biden, who was born in during the Second World War and has experience with Russia, like the United States. Senator during the Cold War.

As president, Trump took a more hostile approach to the Transatlantic Military Alliance, criticizing its members for what he called their excessive financial dependence on the United States. On the campaign trail, he suggested he would encourage Russia to attack NATO countries that are not increasing their defense spending and might consider leaving the 75-year-old alliance originally created to counter the Soviet Union.

European politicians largely don’t believe Trump will leave, although his former national security adviser John Bolton told The Post that “he never lost the desire to leave.” But few think he will maintain the status quo, and NATO members have quietly moved to defend the organization from Trump. Trump called for a “fundamental reassessment of NATO’s purpose and mission.”

Words Harris and Trump use when talking about climate change demonstrates completely different points of view: For Harris, it’s an “existential threat.” For Trump, who has long dismissed climate science, it’s a “hoax.”

Harris has committed to addressing the issue through international cooperation, and experts expect Harris to take a range of actions to combat climate change that could have potential global impacts. Harris backs the US pledge to cut planet-warming emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. The landmark Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, passed by Harris’ tiebreaker vote, directed billions of federal funds to accelerate the transition to green energy. “I expect the Harris administration to impose stricter emissions standards for passenger cars and heavy vehicles like trucks and buses and expand the electric vehicle charging network,” said Michael Gerrard, founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University . .

Politicians seeking to tackle climate change around the world fear such efforts could stall under Trump. As president, he repealed or rescinded more than 100 regulations designed to protect U.S. land, air and water. Now he’s promising to immediately roll back dozens of Biden’s environmental rules and policies and prevent new ones from being passed.

Trump also vowed to once again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate accord, arguing it places an unfair burden on the United States. His withdrawal from the deal to cut carbon emissions alarmed climate scientists and experts, and Biden returned to it after his election in 2020. “We’re going to do it again,” Trump said in a recent television interview.

“Strategic competition between the United States and China could intensify regardless of who takes over the U.S. presidency in January 2025,” Ali Wine, an expert on U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group, told The Post.

Trump has threatened to step up economic attacks on Beijing and is considering measures that many say could trigger a global trade war. He has publicly floated the idea of imposing a tariff of 10 to 20 percent on virtually all imports, and has also privately discussed significantly raising tariffs on Chinese imports by as much as 60 percent.

Economists of both parties say this could lead to enormous disruption to the U.S. and global economy, far exceeding the impact of the trade wars during Trump’s first term. Proponents of Trump’s approach say tariffs could help bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, but in the past some experts have found they have led to a net loss of jobs.

Harris, who also views Beijing as a strategic and economic threat to the United States, is expected to continue the Biden administration’s policies, which have maintained many protectionist policies from the Trump presidency and finalized rules last month limiting American investment in China’s development. technologies with military applications.

While Harris has stressed she is not seeking conflict with Beijing and has hit out at Trump over tariffs imposed on China while he was president, her platform suggests she will pursue what the United States considers China’s “unfair trade practices.” ” This could include punitive measures such as tariffs, as well as investments in domestic production and alternative supply chains to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese goods.

Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have expressed deep skepticism about continued U.S. bailouts for Ukraine, while Harris has pledged “unwavering” support for Kyiv and has since met with President Volodymyr Zelensky a half-dozen times. Russia invaded in 2022.

Ukrainian officials told The Post they believe Harris will maintain the status quo if elected. But they increasingly complain that the White House is too careful to avoid escalating relations with Russia, and that their requests for more powerful weapons and looser restrictions on their use have been delayed or rejected.

On the other hand, some in Zelensky’s government fear that Trump will insist that Ukraine make territorial concessions, which they are strongly opposed to, and that this will lead to a new rift within Europe. Trump also boasted that he had managed to resolve the conflict, now in its third year, “as president-elect before I take office on January 20th.” He offered no detailed plan.

The Kremlin has been outwardly cool about who it wants in the White House, but Russian state media has overwhelmingly fawned over Trump, who has touted a “very good relationship” with Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin and may have spoken to him as many as seven times since leaving office.

Immigration has been central to Trump’s campaign as polls show voters generally disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the Mexico border. In his first term, he aggressively pursued policies to restrict legal immigration, and his 2024 platform signals he will do so again. At the center of Trump’s campaign agenda is a promise to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.” US authorities lack the ability to arrest and deport millions of immigrants, but Trump has said he will use National Guard troops.

The United States and Mexico in particular could feel “devastating consequences” from mass deportations, according to a study written in part by the North American Center for Integration and Development at the University of California, Los Angeles. The document notes that the two countries are “highly interdependent due to dense migration, remittances and trade relations.”

Harris’ immigration role in the Biden administration has included increasing U.S. aid to Central America and discouraging would-be migrants from the region from making the dangerous journey to the United States. Efforts to address the root causes of migration were stymied by a surge in illegal crossings of the southern border during much of her vice presidency. Harris has vowed to resume work on a bipartisan border security bill that Trump opposed this year and was torpedoed by Republicans. The legislation would invest billions of dollars in border security, allow U.S. officials to pause the processing of asylum applications if crossings surge, and introduce technology to detect and intercept fentanyl and other drugs.

Christian Shepherd, Loveday Morris, Steve Hendricks, Kate Brady, Anthony Faiola and Ellen Francis contributed to this report.