Multinational successes defy 'America First' foreign policy

We have just passed the halfway point of the first term of the Trump presidency and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was just at the U.N. trying to orchestrate a multinational response to the crisis in Venezuela.

By getting Canada, most of the largest South American countries and now the EU to join the U.S. in putting pressure on the illegitimate, incompetent and corrupt regime of Nicolas Muduro, they have prevented Maduro from portraying this as a struggle between the "Yankee imperialists" and Venezuela.

Maduro has backed down and allowed American diplomats to stay in Caracas, de-escalating a potential crisis even as the drama plays out there.

The irony is that the few foreign policy successes of this administration involve the U.N. or other multilateral efforts. At the very outset of the Trump Administration, U.N. members were persuaded to enact tough sanctions against North Korea and in response, the Kim regime halted both nuclear and missile tests.

Even the announcement Sunday that U.S. negotiators and the Taliban have reached a framework agreement for peace is dependent on a host of actors - the Afghan government, the 39 nations that make up the NATO mission to Afghanistan and regional players such as Pakistan. Given that the Taliban continue to refuse to speak to the Afghan government until all foreign forces are out of Afghanistan - a deal that should be a non-starter - this peace seems far from assured.

How ironic, because the president has described himself as a nationalist and his foreign policy as "America First."

In practice, this has meant pulling America out of the Paris Climate Accord, the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Iranian nuclear deal, reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), though it is not yet ratified, and starting a trade war with China as well as with our allies. Recently the president has threatened to pull the U.S. from NATO. He has consistently argued that American participation in multilateral organizations or trade deals have shortchanged America.

A poll reported in the Daily Herald Sunday showed that only 35 percent of Americans approve of the administration's foreign policy. Other polls indicate that the public wants us to work with other countries and through multilateral organizations.

Two years in and this administration has had two secretaries of state, two defense secretaries and three national security advisers, and many senior diplomatic positions and key ambassadorships remain unfilled despite promises. Rumors are rife that Secretary Pompeo will soon return to Kansas to run for the Senate in 2020.

It is curious that in two years, the administration has delivered two major foreign policy speeches of note - Vice President Pence's tough speech on China and Secretary Pompeo's equally tough speech on Iran policy. Other than a narrow policy speech on Afghanistan, the president has not delivered any.

Many have argued that with certain important exceptions, the Trump administration's foreign policy - once you peel away the bluster and the more outrageous tweets - has, except for trade, largely been what one might expect from a Republican administration. That just indicates that occasionally the professionals in the bureaucracy - aka, the adults in the room - still hold some sway.

With the House controlled by the Democrats and the president's domestic agenda facing tough sledding, will he - like other presidents before him - turn to foreign policy, where he has more leeway to pursue a legacy achievement and shift the focus from a stalemated Congress and a relentless Russia investigation?

The president has been fortunate in that there have been no major crises on his watch. However, the Russians continue to push where they see opportunities. The Chinese are expanding their influence and are striving for technological parity, if not dominance, in several crucial fields. Humanitarian crises fester in the Middle East and Venezuela. Climate change, globalization, cybercrime and terrorism are not going away.

None of these issues can be dealt with by the United States alone. The multinational institutions - think NATO, the World Bank and, yes, the multiple UN organizations - have been the platforms for many of America's foreign policy efforts for seven decades, and they continue to prove their worth. Moreover, nations around the world still look to the United States to provide leadership and point the way forward in meeting these challenges. What will the president do?

Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86.