The article is an initial assessment of the first months of Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The author argues that contrary to widely publicized theses, American foreign policy has not undergone significant changes so far. Trump showed more decisiveness than his predecessor when faced with the civil war in Syria, and took a more confrontational position towards North Korea, but in the most important issues, such as politics towards China or Russia he did not do anything that would justify fears about the direction of American actions in the world. Washington’s withdrawal from international agreements (TPP, TTIP) or the emergence of such a possibility (NAFTA) is the result of Trump’s concern with his own country’s interests, which is what all leaders do. All this means that in 2017, US foreign policy noted a certain change in the style of its conduct while the substance remains unchanged.
PL
Artykuł jest wstępną oceną pierwszych miesięcy polityki zagranicznej prezydenta Donalda Trumpa. Autor argumentuje, że wbrew szeroko nagłaśnianym tezom amerykańska polityka zagraniczna nie uległa w tym czasie istotnym zmianom. Trump wykazał większe zdecydowanie wobec wojny domowej w Syrii niż jego poprzednik i zajął bardziej konfrontacyjne stanowisko wobec Korei Północnej, ale w najistotniejszych kwestiach, jak np. polityka wobec Chin czy wobec Rosji, nie uczynił niczego, co uzasadniałoby obawy o kierunek działań Stanów Zjednoczonych w świecie. Z kolei wycofanie się Waszyngtonu z porozumień międzynarodowych (TPP, TTIP) czy też pojawienie się takiej możliwości (NAFTA) to wynik kierowania się przez Trumpa przede wszystkim interesem swego kraju, co jest regułą obowiązującą wszystkich przywódców. Wszystko to sprawia, że w 2017 r. polityka zagraniczna USA odnotowała pewną zmianę stylu jej prowadzenia przy zachowaniu niezmienionej substancji.
When Donald Trump became president, many voiced concern that rather than working with Congress, he would use the power of presidential actions, as he himself seemed to indicate. Yet in the first eleven months of his presidency, Trump’s use of presidential directives remained quite restricted. He used them sparingly and within numerical limits set by his predecessors. Analyses presented in the article clearly confirm this, both in general terms and in Trump’s use of specific categories of presidential actions, from the most significant executive orders to relatively unimportant presidential sequestration orders. From this perspective, Donald Trump is simply another U. S. chief executive, working through Congress whenever possible and resorting to unilateral decisions only when absolutely necessary.
The article deals with the presidential transition in the USA. It discusses main issues that constitute the legacy of Barack Obama and how they are likely to be (dis)continued by Donald Trump. Among problems presented in the text are Obamacare, immigration policy, U.S. policy vis-à-vis Russia, Mexico, and North Korea, as well as the Iranian nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement. The overall argument is that we deal not so much with a fundamental revolution as with functional continuity.