NYT: Highlights From Our Interview With Donald Trump on Foreign Policy

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Highlights From Our Interview With Donald Trump on Foreign Policy

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

MARCH 26, 2016

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Donald J. Trump at the Aipac conference in Washington on Monday. Mr. Trump said being unpredictable was part of his approach to foreign policy. CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

Over two telephone conversations on Friday, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, discussed his views on foreign policywith Maggie Haberman and David E. Sanger of The New York Times. Here are some excerpts we highlighted (and an edited transcript).

On whether he would be willing for the United States to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a confrontation with adversaries:

“An absolute last step. ... I personally think it’s biggest problem the world has, nuclear capability ... And the first one to use them, I think that would be a very bad thing. And I will tell you, I would very much not want to be the first one to use them, that I can say.”

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On whether the United States should spy on its allies, and whether President Obama was right to stop the listening in on Angela Merkel’s cellphone:

“You know, I’d rather not say that. I would like to see what they’re doing. Because you know, many countries, I can’t say Germany, but many countries are spying on us. I think that was a great disservice done by Edward Snowden. That I can tell you.”

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On whether to allow Japan and South Korea to build their own nuclear arsenal:

“It’s a position that at some point is something that we have to talk about, and if the United States keeps on its path, its current path of weakness, they’re going to want to have that anyway with or without me discussing it, because I don’t think they feel very secure in what’s going on with our country.”

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On whether he would withdraw United States forces from Japan and South Korea if those countries do not increase their payments to cover the costs of those troops:

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“Yes, I would. I would not do so happily, but I would be willing to do it... We cannot afford to be losing vast amounts of billions of dollars on all of this... And I have a feeling that they’d up the ante very much. I think they would, and if they wouldn’t I would really have to say yes.”

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On his standards for using American troops abroad, such as for homeland protection, for humanitarian intervention, or to aid allies:

“It sounds nice to say, ‘I have a blanket standard; here’s what it is.’ No. 1 is the protection of our country, O.K.? That’s always going to be No. 1, by far. That’s by a factor of 100... After that it depends on the country, the region, how friendly they’ve been toward us. You have countries that haven’t been friendly to us that we’re protecting. So it’s how good they’ve been toward us, etc., etc.”

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On recent American engagement in the Middle East:

“If you would go back 15 years ago, and I’m not saying it was only Obama, it was Obama’s getting out, it was other people’s getting in, but you go back 15 years ago, and I say this: If our presidents would have just gone to the beach and enjoyed the ocean and the sun, we would’ve been much better off in the Middle East, than all of this tremendous death, destruction, and you know, monetary loss.”

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On whether he would stop buying oil from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates if those countries refused to send ground troops to fight ISIS:

“There’s two answers to that. The answer is, probably yes, but I would also say this: We are not being reimbursed for our protection... You know, Saudi Arabia... the amount of money they have is phenomenal. But we protect countries, and take tremendous monetary hits on protecting countries. ... And yet, without us, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t exist for very long. It would be, you know, a catastrophic failure without our protection.”

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On the United States’ fight against ISIS and our efforts to seek a political accord between President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and rebel forces:

“Well, I thought the approach of fighting Assad and ISIS simultaneously was madness, and idiocy. They’re fighting each other and yet we’re fighting both of them. You know, we were fighting both of them. I think that our far bigger problem than Assad is ISIS, I’ve always felt that. Assad is, you know I’m not saying Assad is a good man, ’cause he’s not, but our far greater problem is not Assad, it’s ISIS.”

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On summing up his worldview as ‘America First’:

“I’m not isolationist, but I am ‘America First.’ So I like the expression... We have been disrespected, mocked, and ripped off for many, many years by people that were smarter, shrewder, tougher. We were the big bully, but we were not smartly led... The big stupid bully, and we were systematically ripped off by everybody. From China to Japan to South Korea to the Middle East... protecting Saudi Arabia and not being properly reimbursed... I mean they were making a billion dollars a day before the oil went down... The whole thing is preposterous... We will not be ripped off anymore, we’re going to be friendly with everybody, but we’re not going to be taken advantage of by anybody.”

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On his recent comments questioning the effectiveness of NATO and its ability to combat terrorism:

“I’ll tell you the problems I have with NATO. No. 1, we pay far too much. ... NATO is unfair. ... Because it really helps them more so than the United States, and we pay a disproportionate share. Now, I’m a person that – you notice I talk about economics quite a bit, in these military situations, because it is about economics, because we don’t have money anymore because we’ve been taking care of so many people in so many different forms that we don’t have money. ... So NATO is something that at the time was excellent. Today, it has to be changed. It has to be changed to include terror. It has to be changed from the standpoint of cost because the United States bears far too much of the cost of NATO.”

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On whether Russia will end up dominating Ukraine:

“Well, unless, unless there is, you know, somewhat of a resurgence frankly from people that are around it. Or they would ask us for help. But they don’t ask us for help. They’re not even asking us for help. They’re literally not even talking about it, and these are the countries that border the Ukraine.”

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On how he would combat China’s assertiveness over islands in the South China Sea:

“We have great economic — and people don’t understand this — but we have tremendous economic power over China. ... And that’s the power of trade. Because they use us as their bank, as their piggy bank, they take — but they don’t have to pay us back. It’s better than a bank because they take money out but then they don’t have to pay us back.”

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On why he wants to avoid being too specific about his foreign policy plans:

“A politician would say, ‘Oh I would never go to war,’ or they’d say, ‘Oh I would go to war.’ I don’t want to say what I’d do because, again, we need unpredictability. ... The problem we have is that, maybe because it’s a democracy and maybe because we have to be so open — maybe because you have to say what you have to say in order to get elected — who knows? But I wouldn’t want to say. I wouldn’t want them to know what my real thinking is.”