One day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told US NATO allies they will have to pay up and meet their mandatory quota of 2% of GDP (which only 5 nations currently satisfy, among them the US and Greece), on Thursday the Pentagon's new chief also had some bad news for Russia when he rejected any kind of military collaboration with Russia, despite previous calls by Putin for the West to work with his country on Syria and other issues.
Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign has several different platforms but the most important was his stance on trade. Donald Trump is a protectionist. He views the U.S. foreign trade policy over the last 25 years as a failure. With the passing of NAFTA and other free trade agreements millions of manufacturing jobs that have been eliminated. Donald Trump’s main target for unfair trade practices during the election was China. At one point during the campaign he even claimed that China was raping the U.S.
The defense Department may propose that the US send conventional ground troops into northern Syria for the first time. President Trump has asked officials to speed up the fight against ISIS and has asked his defense secretary to come up with a proposal to combat Islamic State before the end of the month.
US President Donald Trump said he would support the peace agreement that Israel and Palestinians “like the best” in a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu . When asked about the Israeli-Palestinian peace proces, Trump “I’m looking at two state and one state. And I like the one that both parties like” He did however call on Israeli Prime Minister to pause settlement expansion in order to reach a peace deal. “I’d like to see you hold off on settlements for a little bit,” he told Netanyahu.
The much anticipated meeting between President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide significant insight into the new administration's policies vis-a-vis Israel and the middle east. While Trump expressed optimism in a "great peace deal", he urged his Israeli colleague to "hold back on the settlements a little bit", and while reiterating his support for a move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, he was non-committal: "we'll see what happens."