In his inaugural address, Donald Trump did not just promise to change his own country, he pledged to “determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come”.



The 45th US president put the rest of the planet on notice on Friday that it would, from now on, have to deal with a United States that is far less willing to do things for other countries, buy their products or protect their borders. Trump pledged to “reinforce old alliances” but at the same time made it clear his administration would be less willing than its predecessors to underwrite the west’s collective security.

While transition officials have been assuring US allies that American support would be undiminished despite the new president’s repeatedly voiced scepticism about Nato’s purpose and insistence that the country’s friends should pay more for their defence or risk forfeiting US protection, in his short speech in the rain on Friday Trump made it clear that the “America first” approach would be central to his foreign and security policy, in place of the multilateralism that was the hallmark of the Obama White House.

“We’ve defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own; and spent trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay,” he said. “But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future. We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.”

It is far from clear yet what “America first” will mean in practice, but Trump’s campaign slogans suggest that a Trump administration would build up US nuclear and conventional forces significantly, but would be less prepared to use them to shore up other countries’ defences, or help bolster shaky governments and societies overseas.

“We’ve made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon,” Trump said, reinforcing his previous insistence that Washington would no longer get entangled in “nation-building”, and deepening expectations that US overseas aid budgets could face drastic cuts.

The new president has recently described Nato as “obsolete”, but there was no suggestion in his speech that his administration would leave the pact. Trump did suggest, however, that he would look for other alliances more exclusively focused on counter-terrorism.

“We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth,” Trump said.

The pledge of eradication is one that no US ally will take seriously. The fight against terrorism is expected to take decades, if not generations. Meanwhile, the mention of new alliances will raise questions about whether the new president will seek to rebalance the country’s foreign relations and seek new partners.

No single foreign country was mentioned in the speech, but Russia’s presence loomed after Friday’s inauguration. Trump’s associates are reported to be under investigation in a multi-agency inquiry into their contacts with Moscow over the course of the campaign, and the new president was consistent throughout the campaign and the transition period in praising Vladimir Putin and defending him from criticism for Russian actions in Ukraine and Syria.