What the Asian Tigers can teach Trump
second inauguration speech that his role model is neither Franklin D. Roosevelt nor Theodore Roosevelt but William McKinley. The current US president's admiration for the 25th president is often associated with the high McKinley Tariff of 1890. This was passed when Benjamin Harrison was president and McKinley was still an Ohio congressman. But as president of a rapidly industrialising United States, McKinley actually moderated his stance on tariffs.
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Trump's fascination with McKinley is perhaps shaped by his other, sometimes overlooked, legacy. McKinley presided over the US' largest territorial expansion outside North America. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the US gained control of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, before annexing Hawaii in 1900.
Under the Treaty of Paris signed in 1898, the US paid Spain US$20 million for the Philippines. This could be the historic precedent for Trump's proposal to
buy Greenland from Denmark.
Leaving aside the merits, costs or feasibility of territorial expansion, making America greater in area may be the most coherent part of Trump's vision. With regard to manufacturing, it is questionable whether it can be revived through
tariffs . Unlike in East Asia, the election cycle of the US is not conducive to consistent, successful industrial policy.
But can Trump really go down in the annals of American history as the president who made America bigger? While once the US acquired territory from the declining Spanish empire, it now faces a formidable rising power in China. Is territorial expansion even wise in this day and age?
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For Ukraine and its allies, achieving a ceasefire was a fundamental requirement for any peace negotiations in 2025. This precondition has become more significant as Russia ramps up its attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilians. Lastly, the very nature of the Alaska meeting itself helped legitimize Russia in international opinion. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has courted international opinion. It's been more successful than most people in Europe and North America realize, as significant portions of Asia, Africa and Latin America remain ambivalent or even support Russia in its war against Ukraine. Nonetheless, Russia was always restrained by the condemnation it received from multiple international organizations, most notably the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. 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A move by Trump to deploy American soldiers to Ukraine would be politically tenuous, as fractures are already emerging among his political base over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump's cordial meetings with Zelensky and European leaders may fuel hope among Ukraine's supporters in the coming days. But any optimism should be tempered by the damage done by Trump's meeting with Putin. Trump reportedly interrupted the meetings in Washington to call Putin. Trump's unwillingness to make firm commitments at the meetings with Zelensky and European leaders means that Russia, on balance, has succeeded in advancing its interests to the detriment of Ukraine and the prospects for a long-term, sustainable peace. James Horncastle is assistant professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney professor in international relations, Simon Fraser University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
