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EXPERT COMMENT

But the scale and shock of the president’s policymaking threatens to undermine his primary foreign policy objective: maintaining an advantage over China.

It has become routine to pronounce Donald Trump one of the ‘most consequential’ US presidents. But that understates his impact: no president has conducted a first 100 days in office like this.

At home, he has defied constitutional limits on executive power, using executive orders not legislation to enact policy (seeking to end birthright citizenship in one). Trump has also mounted an assault on institutions of ‘elite’ culture, education and science while cultivating fear among those who oppose him.

In foreign policy, he has ripped up global trade arrangements, taken the US out of climate accords, and cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to NATO. Indeed, he has threatened to take over allies by force, whether by making Canada the 51st state or by seizing Greenland. With such actions he has withdrawn the US from much of its accustomed role in the world – and may well have surrendered his country’s prime advantages to China.

He has been able to do all this because of an emphatic election victory and widespread support for his main campaign promises. Any judgement on his first 100 days has to acknowledge the popularity of some of what he is doing – whether seeking to reduce illegal migration, tackle China’s role in world trade, insist that Europe pay for its own defence, or slim down the federal government.

Yet there is a growing question about how much of the president’s actions will stick, given the chaos caused by his rapid decisions and forced U-turns. It may be no consolation to those grappling with the sharp end of his policies – in Lesotho, Kyiv, Gaza or Harvard – but he is running into constraints on what he can do.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.