The Worst Foreign Policy Blunders of 2025

No president has understood less about what makes America great than Donald Trump; none has been more ignorant of the post-WWII international framework that allowed America to remain the premier superpower. In systematically weakening alliances, frittering away our moral authority, aligning himself with international dictators, trashing multilateral organizations, hollowing out the State Department and showing himself to be a feckless, corrupt bully, he has weakened America’s standing around the world to a degree no foreign enemy could have achieved. He always puts America Last.

Climate change denial: Withdrawing from the Paris Accords undermined the effort to slow the planet’s destruction and the multifaceted dangers climate change poses to national security (from instability/mass migration to promoting violence to increasing humanitarian disasters). But that was just the start of the Big Oil bonanza. Trump’s termination of government investment in job-creating, innovative industries means we have ceded leadership in key technologies to rivals. Specifically, Trump handed China dominance in the electric car business. This is one of many gifts to our main geopolitical rival. Meanwhile, opening up federal lands to oil drilling, cutting back on gas mileage standards, leading a full-out assault on wind power, and fixating on coal could be a roadmap for climate disaster—but also a recipe to lose prestige, influence, and competitiveness on the world stage.

Israel: Trump gave the rightwing Israeli government a green light to drag out a futile war to destroy Hamas (which is now up and functioning in Gaza) and indulged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for far too long in his policy of deliberate starvation. That immeasurably damaged Israel’s standing in the world, undermined bipartisan support for Israel, and eroded our standing to question other countries’ human rights records. Meanwhile, we have seen little sign the “peace deal” will move forward. The overhyped strike on Iran did not accomplish the goal of eliminating Iran’s nuclear weapons program, but rather left us with less insight into Iran’s nuclear program and less leverage to block its quest for a nuclear weapon.

Russia: Trump seems to have done everything possible to strengthen Russia’s hand in Ukraine and thereby show the world we are a feckless ally. He compulsively reveals his utter naivete and ignorance about foreign policy; and has blithely damaged the most successful alliance in history (NATO). Putting real estate mogul Steve Witkoff (“ill-informed, credulous, and utterly unfamiliar with the history and character of those he deals with,” as Eliot Cohen describes him) in charge of a Russia-Ukraine deal (among others) makes an acceptable outcome virtually impossible.

Caribbean: An illegal, unauthorized, unnecessary, and morally noxious policy of extrajudicial killings (which are not remotely necessary for cocaine interdiction) combines bad policy with bad politics. Trump seems to be driving us into open-ended war in the Western Hemisphere, where he imagines America can dominate like a 19^th century colonial power. (Remember the Maine?) This venture helps advance Trump’s authoritarian project to attain unlimited executive power in violation of our Constitutional system. His “might makes right” thinking mars America’s image and leads to interminable conflicts.

Tariffs: Tariffs, both an economic and foreign policy disaster, create animosity among centuries old allies, give China new openings (e.g. India), and ignore real national security issues (such as allowing NVIDIA to sell its H200 AI chips to China). It also deprives America of a key soft power tool we can apply selectively to further our national interests. Moreover, tariffs “make it more expensive to meet national defense requirements. …[D]efense companies of all sizes are beginning to report higher costs, from the defense conglomerate RTX to a ball bearing manufacturer in New Hampshire,” the Council on Foreign Relations explains. “Tariffs on steel and aluminum are particularly confounding.” The Supreme Court may save Trump (and the U.S.) from his economic stupidity.

National Security Strategy: As Brian O’Neill (writing for The Contrarian) and countless other experienced national security veterans have said, the NSS is a petulant, incoherent, amateurish non-strategy that reads like a MAGA wish-list of domestic impulses (e.g., White Christian nationalism, anti-trans hysteria, anti-immigrant venom) without grounding in the real world. Lacking even a hint as to how to achieve its twisted aims, it’s precisely what you would expect from a bombastic former Fox News host. Described by The Economist as a “dog’s breakfast” (apologies to our canine loved ones), this document “[s]horn of the enlightened values that have long anchored foreign policy…becomes a naked assertion of power that owes more to the 19th century than the world that America built after the second world war. And that leads to a document riven by contradictions.” All you need to know: Vladimir Putin applauded wildly (he could have written it!), and our allies condemned it.

Corruption: From FIFA to the UAE, foreign organizations and autocracies have proven they know how to manipulate Trump. Give him a phony prize or a shiny plane. Flatter him. And if they reward him financially with crypto purchases or real estate deals, he will be putty in their hands. This mob boss mentality (nice chips deal ‘ya got there, give me a cut and nothing will go wrong) places Trump’s interests ahead of national interests and sullies America’s reputation as model of decent government and fair business practices. To make matters worse, he has stopped enforcing foreign anti-corruption laws and foreign agents' registration.

Immigration: From South Korea to Central and South America, our cruel, illogical, and counterproductive mass deportation program has made us an international pariah. Trump has reduced our ability to gain cooperation on immigration (as well as other matters) where we need it. In closing our doors, we have sent scientists and other high-skilled workers back to other countries, to their advantage and our detriment. It amounts to foreign policy and economic self-sabotage.

USAID: Trump blew up a relatively inexpensive program that saves millions of lives, combats terrorism, and keeps malicious state actors out of developing countries. In unilaterally dismantling it, Trump committed the worst “own goal” in American foreign policy history. Moreover, its destruction has already killed hundreds of thousands of people including more than 450,000 children. The competition is stiff, but qualifies as one of Trump’s most morally repugnant moves.

Personnel: If “personnel are policy,” we know why our Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence community come out with one inane decision after another. Under this crew, we lurch from one embarrassing debacle to another, destroying the national security infrastructure and human capital we need to defend ourselves. Far from a “meritocracy,” this is affirmative action for irresponsible, ignorant, and mediocre suck-ups. Who can rely on what comes out of these once respected institutions? It’s hard to image self-respecting professionals wanting to work under Tulsi Gabbard, Marco “Sink into the Couch” Rubio, and the absolute bottom of the barrel, Pete Hegseth. Senate Republicans could have blocked each one of these duds, and hence are just as responsible as Trump for the trail of destruction they will leave behind.

-Jennifer Rubin, The Contrarian is reader-supported. To enable our work, help with litigation efforts, and keep the opposition movement engaged through the new year and beyond, please join our community as a paid subscriber.