Trend Overview
Welcome back to the Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker. Once a month, we ask FDD’s experts and scholars to assess the administration’s foreign policy. They provide trendlines of very positive, positive, neutral, negative, or very negative for the areas they watch.
President Donald Trump restored U.S. assistance for Ukraine after Kyiv accepted an American ceasefire proposal, which Moscow later rejected. While Ukraine has demonstrated its readiness for peace, the Kremlin has continued to make maximalist demands while attempting to press its battlefield advantage. Trump has begun to grow impatient, threatening economic punishment against Russia.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made his first trip to the Indo-Pacific since taking office. In Tokyo, he announced the Pentagon had begun upgrading U.S. Forces Japan to a joint force headquarters. In Manila, Hegseth unveiled a plan to bolster deterrence by deploying additional capabilities to the Philippines and stepping up bilateral military training and defense-industrial and cyber cooperation.
In Yemen, the administration launched a more forceful military campaign against the Houthi terrorist group, though the focus soon shifted to the fallout from cabinet officials’ accidental sharing of sensitive details via the messaging app Signal. After talks on the Gaza ceasefire broke down, the White House said it “fully supports” Israel’s decision to resume fighting. Meanwhile, Trump sought to ramp up economic pressure on Iran while also inviting Tehran to conduct nuclear talks.
On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on over 180 countries, raising fears of a recession and prompting threats of retaliation from allies and adversaries alike.
Check back next month to see how the administration deals with these and other challenges.