A verdict that may prove transformational for the US and the world

Donald Trump, the elected 47th president of the US, is back and the world has taken notice. He is returning as the self-described peace candidate, and US foreign policy will never be the same. President Trump has promised to bring peace to the Middle East and Ukraine after inheriting a legacy of two bloody wars without any serious attempt to resolve either. The White House seemed either incapable, or worse, too weak to be taken seriously by the parties to the two conflicts. In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had stopped listening to US President Joe Biden.

The president-elect seized on this reluctance among American leadership and proclaimed on every occasion that these conflicts would not have happened had he been president. He vowed in interviews before the elections that he would solve these conflicts even before he took office.

Now, following his victory, the eyes of the world are on President-Elect Trump and his new version of America First policy, how he will deal with the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, manage the relationship with NATO and Europe, direct the competition with China and project power around the world.

Trump’s win is a return to “peace through strength,” his doctrine and organizing principle for how he will deal with the world and its powers.

He told the UN in 2020 that the US is fulfilling its destiny as peacemaker, but it is with “peace through strength.” At the UN there is concern today that President Trump will repeat the US’ withdrawal from key UN agencies like he did in his first term in office.

The Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, withdrew from UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council and threatened to withdraw from the WHO.

But it is not only the UN that is worried today. Europe and the US’ NATO allies reached out to Trump very early, congratulating him and vowing to work together, but their nice messages also masked anxieties over his criticism of European defense spending. Trump has always complained that the US pays too much for the defense of Europe.

China will be worried because of his threat during the campaign to slap trade tariffs on Chinese goods. But Trump, nonetheless, had good words for Chinese President Xi Jinping, describing him as “brilliant guy” who he gets along with, offering hope for a more stable relationship of competition without tension.

Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin placed him under constant attacks from the Biden-Harris administration, but those ties will come in handy now when he tries to fulfill his promise to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The Republicans clinched a big win in Congress by winning back the Senate. If they also manage to control the House, the president will have a very strong hand in foreign as well as domestic policy.

Amal Mudallali

The president-elect, who said he was respected by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, vowed to end the war before his inauguration. “That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president,” he said.

Moscow is undoubtedly happy to see Trump elected but this is not the case in Kyiv, with President Volodymyr Zelensky committing a grave mistake during the campaign by visiting Pennsylvania with the Democratic governor, criticizing vice-presidential candidate JD Vance as “too radical” and publicly doubting that Trump can solve the conflict.

The president-elect did not hide how he feels about Zelensky, describing him as “maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived,” adding: “Every time he come to our country he walks away with $60 billion.” The American faucet will be closed by Trump now as the US is expected to try find a solution with Putin, even if not to the liking of Zelensky and the Europeans.

Trump won Michigan partly aided by the votes of Arab Americans who are angry at the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon. He was the only candidate to visit Dearborn, the Arab American-majority city, where he promised voters to bring peace to the Middle East.

However, he has a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Arab Americans, even those who voted for him, are worried that the promises of the campaign might remain only promises. They point to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the moving of the US Embassy to the holy city. Trump also recognized Israel’s annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights. In his statements in Michigan, though, he promised to bring a “lasting peace” in Gaza and Lebanon, but without giving any details on how he will achieve this. He promised to expand the Abraham Accords and add new countries to the arrangement, even Iran.

The only country in the region that needs to worry about Trump’s policy is Iran. During the campaign, he discussed the possibility of targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, arguing that the US should have “hit them first and worried later” about the consequences. In a second Trump administration there will be a hardline policy toward Iran, its proxies and its nuclear program. But Trump also hinted in the Al Arabiya interview that Tehran could take a different path, when he said that Iran could be part of the Abraham Accords, without explaining how that is possible.

The Republicans clinched a big win in Congress by winning back the Senate. If they also manage to control the House, the president will have a very strong hand in foreign as well as domestic policy. This is good news for Saudi Arabia, which had a “great” (in capital letters) relationship with Trump, especially as the Kingdom and US are working on cementing their relationship through a new security and military agreement. President Trump will not find it difficult to pass such an agreement in Congress if Republicans control both houses.

These elections ushered in a new era for the US that could be transformational and bring fundamental change not only for America, but also for the world. The world should buckle up.

• Dr. Amal Mudallali is a visiting research scholar at Princeton University and former Lebanese ambassador to the UN.