Donald Trump has already taken radical new stances on Greenland and the Panama Canal. What do security experts predict he'll do in the Pacific?
Donald Trump met leaders from the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau at the White House in 2019.Soon after Donald Trump 's election victory in November, a leader from one of the world's smallest nations voiced a hope to take him snorkelling.
Joe Biden met with Pacific Islands Forum leaders twice at the White House as the US increased its engagement with the region.Observers say the return of Mr Trump's more unpredictable and transactional approach to foreign policy will change how the US interacts with the region.to lower carbon emissions, one of Mr Trump's first acts as president this week was to sign an order to begin the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement.
He's long expressed scepticism about the US's traditional partnerships, deriding NATO's European members over their defence spending. "The US will continue to see the Pacific Islands as geostrategically important, and therefore having military presence in the region will continue to be important," Dr Kabutaulaka said."That focus and the nature and tone of that engagement is likely to look very different from what we've experienced under a Biden administration, and even under the previous Trump administration," Dr Powles said.
Federated States of Micronesia president David Panuelo, Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine and Palau president Tommy Remengesau Jr at the Arlington National Cemetery, during their US visit in 2019.The Biden administration also renewed agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia, giving the US military access to their territories in exchange for $7 billion of financial support over 20 years, among other benefits.
A report on the America's involvement in the Pacific by the Heritage Foundation, a think tank closely aligned with the Republican party, may offer clues to the second Trump administration's approach to the region. "Pacific Island states are looking at things and saying, hang on, let's do things in ways which suit our interest," University of Canterbury professor and security expert Steven Ratuva said.
Professor Ratuva doesn't expect the money will arrive under the Trump administration, and said this would damage the US's standing in the region. "It's unclear as to how he is actually going to be able to engage with Pacific leadership when he is wholly dismissive of the critical security issue in the region," Dr Powles said.
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