New diplomacy in Washington

Undoubtedly, the Trump administration 2.0 is giving pause to many diplomatic posts in Washington, DC as they anticipate the changes that may come as President Trump ushers in “the dawn of the Golden Age of America.”

In his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, President Trump was unequivocal: “America is back,” he declared, recollecting that from the moment he stood beneath the dome of the Capitol, “it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era” in the history of the United States.

Predictably, the first few weeks of the new Trump administration has shown so many changes almost immediately as the president signed “nearly 100 Executive Orders and taken more than 400 Executive Actions…” to “restore common sense, safety, optimism and wealth” all across the United States which, the president said, is what he was elected to do.

“The American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again,” he told the members of Congress, urging Democrats to work with him to truly make America great again.

“Every day my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a future America deserves and we’re doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action.”

Even before his over 90-minute speech – said to be the longest joint address to Congress in recent history – a lot of changes were already underway, especially in the field of foreign policy. There is no question the biggest one is in the European theater, in particular the conflict in Ukraine.

During the recent Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) “Prospects of the Philippines” conference, one of the most asked questions was the meeting at the Oval Office between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that resulted in a heated exchange.

In the interviews made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he made it very clear that President Trump is “trying to bring an end to this conflict” and the plan is to “get the Russians to a negotiating table” and explore whether peace is possible.

If signed, the minerals deal, Secretary Rubio explained, was supposed to be “an agreement that binds America economically to Ukraine,” which was going to be a “security guarantee in its own way” because America would be involved, and it would be in its own interest to protect Ukraine.

As I told the FOCAP members as well as local media who were present, one has to read between the lines and understand President Trump’s mantra of “America First” to see what he believes in. The bottom line, I think, is that he does not want the United States to be a country that will continue to finance conflicts that are happening all over the world – a style he has practiced as “the art of deal-making” in forcing Ukraine and Russia to come to the negotiating table.

The obvious lesson to be learned is that each country has to be ready to beef up its own defense and boost its economic security in the long run. That’s exactly what we have been trying to do even during the time of president Duterte – telling our friends in Washington that we want to be economically prosperous to achieve economic security so that we will have our own wherewithal and resources to modernize our armed forces – and be a real partner not only of the United States with our mutual defense treaty, but other like-minded countries as well.

There is no question that every country has its own role to play in the global arena – a give-and-take, quid pro quo kind of diplomacy where everybody does their part and are not reliant or dependent on one country.

As I have always emphasized to legislators and officials in Washington, we are not there to ask for money – what we are asking for are opportunities to partner with investments so we can carry our own weight in defense partnerships – instead of us just asking and receiving.

In other words, diplomacy can also be approached as a business partnership where the conditions are mutually beneficial and satisfactory to both partners – which is perhaps the best way to navigate the foreign policy direction in Washington today with the business orientation of the Trump administration.

A lot of people I know are starting to think that perhaps this could also be applied to other countries as well. In the Philippines, we have never really had a businessman as president but recently, people have been talking about it and wondering whether a businessman or a CEO would be better as the next president, who could have the technical and administrative skills to run the country.

Realistically speaking, the Philippines plays a role in global security because of our geographic location – which is why we have to be strong enough both economically and militarily for us to be able to play a major role in the region.

A good indication of where President Trump has set his sights on is when he said, “We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond.”

Who knows what it would be like 50 years from now – diplomacy could be conducted in space. Planets will have their own diplomats and armed forces – and that would, indeed, be literally out of this world.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]