Editorial: Continuity in US Foreign Policy

The United States, in contrast with the European Union, is a country where other countries knowswho to call when they need something.

It is also a country characterised by continuity in its foreign policy.

Hence, the decisions that will be made by outgoing President Donald Trump until President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January, 2021, on issues such as the prospect of new sanctions on China, will not likely6 be overturned in the first phase of his presidency in any event.

Foreign policy could not but have fallen victim to Donald Trump’s erratic politics.

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan enjoyed a privileged relationship with Mr. Trump, who never hid his admiration for his Turkish counterpart.

Indeed, Trump repeatedly dug Erdogan out of a hole as his former National Security Advisor John Bolton revealed in his bombshell book “The Room Where It Happened”, which was released earlier this year before the US presidential election.

Trump helped despite tensions with Erdogan over Trump’s refusal to extradite to Turkey Erdogan’s arch-enemy, Fetullah Gulen, and Erdogans’ longstandindg refusal to allow the American Pastor Branson to be released from a Turkish prison.

As violent as it may have been, the skirmish two days ago at a Nato foreign ministers’ teleconference between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu does not alter the facts, nor does it signal a shift in Washington’s stance towards Ankara.

Mr. Biden is in general not fond of authoritarian leaders. His foreign policy will be neither centred on personalities nor knee-jerk.

Yet, his general orientation will not differ substantially from those of most American administrations over the last decade.

Along with normalcy one will see continuity.