The foreign policy relates to a country’s goals abroad and the approach it seeks to achieve them. In this regard, the United States invests substantially in international affairs, mainly through strengthening its nuclear arsenal and military power. According to Porter (2018), the U.S. spends the most significant share of its gross domestic product (GDP) than any other nation globally to maintain its supremacy. It is worrying how America engages in unnecessary wars despite increasing debt to finance its military actions overseas. Presently, the real dangers that the U.S. experiences are cybersecurity and technology, terrorist activities, aviation security, and illegal immigrants. Some of these threats arise from America’s involvement in avoidable international affairs. For instance, terrorists from Saudi Arabia and Iraq often blame the United States for their countries’ anguishes (Bremmer, 2016). In return, they focus on seeking vengeance for their people, thus establishing terrorist groups. Criminals and rival nations are also targeting information in the United States’ secret service database (Porter, 2018). Therefore, engagement in war affairs worldwide creates many enemies who seek to destabilize America’s economy and promote conflicts.
There is a necessity to balance security needs and economic limits in the United States. The best option to attain this goal is by harmonizing national security and liberty. One of America’s foreign policy objectives is to promote peace and a secure environment worldwide (Bremmer, 2016). Although the U.S. needs to safeguard its people’s safety, it is irrational to borrow money to engage in unreasonable overseas attacks. Promoting human rights and democratic values would allow people across the globe to coexist in peace and trade freely. For example, it was illogical for the United States to attack Libya without a practical plan to help the country achieve recovery. It is necessary to reduce America’s defense spending by lessening avoidable external attacks. In my view, the current state of international affairs in the U.S. is characterized by bilateral engagements. President Trump has minimized external attacks and seems to favor constructive discussions over unwarranted combats, which exploit resources needed to deliver services in other sectors. With the regime change, it will be interesting to see if President-elect Biden will continue with President Trump’s ideology or revert to Obama’s aggressive approach.
References
Bremmer, I. (2016). Superpower: Three choices for America’s role in the world. Penguin.
Porter, P. (2018). Why America’s grand strategy has not changed: Power, habit, and the US foreign policy establishment. International Security, 42(4), 9-46. Web.