Trump clearly ahead

Harris and Trump stand for “America first”

(Bild: APA/AFP/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)

The election for the White House has been decided - Donald Trump is now officially the winner. The question now is what lies ahead for the world. The differences between the two candidates were not that great in the run-up to the election - except when it came to the war in Ukraine ...

From a European perspective, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is certainly the biggest and most dangerous foreign policy problem, as the fighting is taking place right on our doorstep. The USA is the most important supporter of the government in Kiev, ahead of Germany, both financially and in terms of weapons and ammunition.

Support for Kiev is likely to waver
Kamala Harris, the previous Vice President of the USA, had always supported President Joe Biden's course and promised before the election to continue supporting Ukraine "as long as necessary".

Kamala Harris and the Ukrainian President Selenskyj

(Bild: AFP/Tobias SCHWARZ)

However, even under Biden and his friend, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, military aid was only enough to save Ukraine from capitulation. The support was therefore already far too little for the victory against Russia dreamed of by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Biden and Scholz wanted to prevent further escalation, as they say. Harris wanted to take a similar approach. However, there are increasingly louder voices on both the US and European sides calling for negotiations.

Analyzed for the "Krone": foreign policy expert Christian Hauenstein

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

Trump wants to end the war "in 24 hours"
In contrast to Harris, Donald Trump had promised to "end the war in 24 hours". If he is elected, Trump has repeatedly said that he will have concluded a deal with Vladimir Putin before he enters the White House on 20 January.

In Trump's mind, it is absurd to finance a war in which he believes the USA has nothing to gain. How realistic Trump's promises are remains unclear for the time being.

Trump and Putin already met at the G20 summit in Osaka in 2019

(Bild: APA/AFP/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)

Taking NATO to task
What is certain is that Trump will now insist that all NATO countries meet their financial obligations. He does not see why the USA should pay for the security of others. Harris probably took a similar view, but would at least have been friendlier in tone.

Focus on Israel and the Middle East
In the Middle East, Trump is firmly on Israel's side as its most important ally and wants to keep Iran and its proxies in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen in check. Harris had made similar comments. In contrast to Trump, however, she still believed in the two-state solution, which Netanyahu rejects. And she criticized Israel's particularly harsh warfare.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu hoped that this criticism could be silenced under Trump, who is unconditionally on the side of Jerusalem, as he proved in his first presidency.

China looks calmly towards Washington
China's President Xi is likely to take a very relaxed view of Washington. His country has grown to become the only serious competitor to the USA and will no longer allow itself to be driven from this position. Not even through economic sanctions and import tariffs, which both Harris and Trump stood for - to varying degrees - in the run-up to the election.

That leaves climate policy, where Trump wants to cut subsidies for e-cars, for example, while Harris wants to expand them. However, both wanted to maintain the controversial fracking for gas extraction. 

It is clear that for both Harris and Trump it was "America first!"