Trump’s confrontational foreign policy defies his ‘America first’ agenda

The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, aims to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Developed countries are asked to provide financial assistance to less developed ones to meet climate goals. Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement in his first term and is doing it again. The belief of most Republicans that there is no such thing as climate change, against the overwhelming evidence, is nothing short of a travesty.

But then, leave it to the willfully ignorant to dismiss the unprecedented storms, hurricanes, fires, rising sea levels, and temperature because they refuse to see reality. Sadly, withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is also tied to Trump's desire to expand US fossil fuel production, which has a significant adverse environmental impact on the US just as much, if not more, than other countries.

Sadly, with the new Trump administration entering a second term, not only does the UN face an exceptionally hostile White House, but even many of the US' friends and allies are bewildered and greatly concerned about what he might do next. They fear that nothing good will come out of this Trump administration and are bracing for the worst.

Trump must remember that America First is best served when America is respected, not feared, and it must be active on the international stage in order to have an input, rather than be sidelined and allow other countries, like Russia and China, to fill the gap. This will make America Last, not First.