The Trump Administration's America First Strategy And Its Impact On U.S.-EU Economic Relations

The United States and the European Union have been one of the most important trading partners,sharing the strongest economic relations in the world.Since Donald Trump took office,he adopted a unilateralist foreign policy called “America First” which plays a primary role in many of his decisions and policy-making.This in turn affects the U.S.-EU economic relations.As president Trump keeps opposing to and withdrawing from many multilateralist organizations and agreements,it is quite important to study the impact of the unilateralism-laden foreign policy on the U.S.-EU economic relations.This thesis explores the origin and development of America First strategy and gives an account of the influence that this strategy has on the US domestic and foreign affairs.Then it places emphasis on the impact that the America First strategy has on the U.S.-EU economic relations from the perspectives of trade and investment.Through an analysis of the U.S.-EU trade,the author found that the Trump administration's America First policy has not reduced the U.S.-EU trade deficit.Instead,the trade deficit is on the rise.As the United States unilaterally set high tariffs on the EU exports to the US such as steel and aluminium,the EU took retaliatory countermeasures,which has had negative impact on both sides.Moreover,Trump's unilateralism manifested in his trade protectionism raises more conflicts and tensions between the US and the EU which favors multilateralism,causing harm to the trade between the two sides.By analyzing the U.S.-EU investment data during the initial years of Trump's presidency,the author found that many U.S.multinationals repatriated more earnings to America and the EU also invested more in the US since Trump's tenure started in 2017.And the EU received much less investment from the US,which is not conducive to the long-term development of the EU economy.From the perspective of sustainable development,this imbalance of investment between the US and EU does not contribute to the development of the U.S.-EU economic relations.