Storella Comments on the Roots of Trump’s Foreign Policy

Professor of the practice of diplomacy Mark Storella told Portugal’s observatory newspaper, on January 23, that Donald Trump’s foreign policy is not organized around coherent strategy, but rather motivated by his personal impulses and desires. In the article entitled, The Obsession, the Bullying, and the Zigzags—Is there any Strategy in How Trump deals with Greenland?, Observador journalist Jose Duarte quoted Storella and other foreign policy experts.

Storella said that Trump’s obsession with Greenland is based in part on his desire to intimidate others. The Professor noted in his own words, “he says he wants Greenland for security and psychological reasons and that he will only be constrained by his own morality. He is a real estate guy and he wants property.”

By personalizing foreign policy, Trump leaves the United States without a coherent approach to its interactions with the world. Storella noted that Trump’s national Security Strategy did not even mention Greenland, and yet he seems prepared to jettison the Atlantic alliance for this obsession.

The full article can be read here.

Mark C. Storella is the professor of the practice of diplomacy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. He served as a United States Foreign Service Officer for more than three decades. Besides being an ambassador to Zambia, he was a deputy assistant secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration and dean of the Leadership and Management School of the Foreign Service Institute. Storella has several honors and awards to his name, including the Presidential Rank Award and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Excellence in Service Award. To learn more about his work and accomplishments, visit his faculty profile.