US President Trump releases foreign policy statement that echoes campaign but has few details

Without deviating from his campaign language, the statement provided no new details of how the new administration plans to accomplish his goals. The counterterrorism strategy echoed the Obama era strategy of working with coalition partners, cutting off terrorist funding and expanding intelligence sharing.

In starker terms than the previous administration, the statement pledged to “engage in cyber warfare” against terrorist networks.

It said the new administration would “embrace diplomacy.” In an apparent reflection of Trump’s stated intention to move toward warmer ties with Russia and to place security and economic interests above shared values, it said that “we are always happy when old enemies become friends, and when old friends become allies.”

On trade, the statement repeated Trump’s promise to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership - the Pacific Rim agreement signed last year by 12 countries, including the United States but excluding China.

It said the United States would withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) unless US partners Mexico and Canada agreed to renegotiate unspecified elements of the deal, something the governments of both those countries have already said they are willing to do.