Expert: After US midterms, Trump may pursue even more disruptive foreign policy

After Republicans lost both houses of Congress in the US midterms, President Donald Trump may focus more on foreign policy, potentially harming Estonian, one expert said.
Trump lost both chambers of Congress: The Senate and the House of Representatives, to the Democrats after Tuesday's midterm elections.
Speaking to Vikerraadio Wednesday morning, senior research fellow at the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS) Liis Mure said: "The impact of this on the administration as a whole will certainly be quite significant, as Congress controls the entire US government purse. They make all the decisions about what gets funded, who receives money and how it is spent. But on the other hand, there are, of course, certain areas where the US president has very, very extensive powers, and these include foreign policy and defense polic".
Fr instance the legislature, Congress, has fewer opportunities to restrict the executive's actions in foreign policy, Mure noted.
"And since some concern has already been expressed here in Europe, perhaps if Trump is more restricted in his actions on domestic policy from now on, he may direct more of his energy toward foreign policy, which may not bring us greater stability," she noted.
Politico reported on Monday that some European NATO states fear the Republicans' defeat in the US elections will lead to Trump attacking the alliance more. Furthermore, with his second term half-way through, Trump will likely be thinking about his legacy, Mure noted.
"I think Trump certainly wants to leave his mark on world history during the final two years of his presidency. His approach to foreign policy has been revolutionary in the sense that he wants to tear things down and create something entirely new. As we have now heard, a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi and Russia's Putin may be in the planning stages, and he will certainly try to achieve something big. I think those attempts will definitely come," Mure went on.
"At the same time, domestically, his focus seems to be more on erecting monuments to himself, so to speak – triumphal arches and ballrooms. But I think [Trump's] activity in foreign policy will certainly increase."
According to Mure, Trump has been trying to govern the country relatively freely and without cooperating with Congress since the start of his second term. While Congress does have levers to influence him on domestic policy, it has relatively few in foreign policy.
"In terms of foreign policy, I think a great deal will depend on how much Republicans, and especially Republicans in Congress, begin to openly and forcefully stand up to him, because so far the Republican Party in Congress has been almost completely under Trump's control. He has hardly been criticized publicly at all, although internally, particularly since the start of the war with Iran, criticism has increased significantly. But it is probably still possible to influence his actions on foreign policy, so to speak, from within his own party," Mure added.
With control of Congress, Democrats will be able to frustrate President Trump's plans for the next two years - and may even make a third attempt to impeach him.
In the Senate race, which saw about a third of seats contested, the Democrats picked up a string of victories in traditional Republican strongholds, including Texas, Ohio, and Kansas. In the latter case this was the first Democrat to be elected in a century. Trump had attempted to address the diesel price issue which affects large states like Texas in particular, still more so Alaska due to the climate, via a diesel deal with Russia.
The BBC reported Trump saying the Democrats "did a good job" - and acknowledges the Iran war, and higher fuel prices have played a part in the defeat – ordinary Americans have been hit at the fuel pump.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots










