U.S. Airstrike Against Syria Overshadows Trump's Meeting With Chinese Leader

President Trump's decision to launch a targeted missile strike against Syria overshadows his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. NPR takes a look at what this means for Trump's foreign policy.

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Late yesterday, U.S. warships fired cruise missiles at a Syrian air base in retaliation for an apparent chemical weapons attack earlier this week. Today the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the country is prepared to take further military action, but Ambassador Nikki Haley told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that she hopes that won't be necessary. And some members of Congress are calling for a more comprehensive strategy to resolve Syria's long and bloody civil war. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The attacks this week could mark a turning point in the evolution of the president's approach to foreign policy. Donald Trump ran for office on a nationalistic platform that downplayed foreign military adventures. He underscored that message just three days ago in a speech to the unionized building trades.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm not and I don't want to be the president of the world. I'm the president of the United States. And from now on, it's going to be America First.

HORSLEY: That very day, though, Trump got his first briefing on what appears to be a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria. And like many others, he was soon seeing graphic pictures of the victims on TV.

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TRUMP: It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.

HORSLEY: By Tuesday evening, administration officials had begun to consider a military response. And yesterday, Trump ordered the cruise missile strike on the Syrian airfield from which the apparent chemical attack was launched.

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TRUMP: It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.

HORSLEY: Almost overnight, it seemed the attack on Syrian civilians had dramatically altered Trump's idea of where America's interests lie.

ANTHONY CORDESMAN: This is a president, like every president, who's learning on the job.

HORSLEY: Military analyst Anthony Cordesman says the overnight missile strike sends an important message not only to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose base was targeted, but others around the world who might have wondered whether America still has the stomach for foreign military intervention.

CORDESMAN: One of the questions everyone really had in the world was how would President Trump react to his first real crisis.

HORSLEY: Cordesman applauds what he calls a swift and proportionate response, but he says it'll take more than a barrage of cruise missiles to resolve the Syrian civil war which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more. Some members of Congress say Trump needs to explain what comes next in Syria. White House Spokesman Sean Spicer was noncommittal.

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SEAN SPICER: He's not going to telegraph his next move, but I think that this action was very decisive, justified and proportional. I think it sent a very strong signal not just to Syria but throughout the world.

HORSLEY: In defending the missile strike last night, administration officials argued the international community must be prepared to take action against tyrants. Former President Obama made a similar case for U.S. intervention in Libya. The chaotic aftermath of that fight humbled Obama and made him all the more wary of deeper involvement in Syria. Cordesman agrees there are no easy options for Trump in Syria, but he says that's no excuse for doing nothing.

CORDESMAN: Perhaps the worst option is trying to stand totally aside. One way or another, Americans can't simply retreat to our coastlines and our borders. We're going to have to deal with the world we actually live in.

HORSLEY: That could require some reevaluation of what America First really means. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

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