Harris or Trump, does it matter?
Does it really matter for the Philippines and the world whether the next US president is Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? The answer of course is from the global point of view – yes, it matters a lot. Trump is a confirmed isolationist who has threatened to unilaterally withdraw the United States from NATO. Harris has pledged to continue America’s role of providing leadership to NATO.
In the Indo-Pacific region, Trump publicly states that the US considers China as its greatest threat from both a military and economic point of view. If Trump becomes president, he intends to increase tariffs on goods and services from China.
At first glance, these policies may seem to favor the Philippines, simply because our foreign interests are now aligned in that both countries – US and the Philippines – view China as their greatest threat.
The only possible geopolitical cautionary note is that Trump can be ideologically unpredictable. His domestic and international policies are often transactional and not consistent. It is the opinion of many geopolitical observers that his foreign and domestic policies are often based on personal relationships. For example, he is considered by many as an admirer of Putin and has often bragged publicly that Putin likes him personally.
Harris, on the other hand, is often predicted to follow the traditional Biden Democratic ideology of being the world’s leader of the democratic forces. She will probably continue building an alliance against China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Most probably the difference between the Harris and the Biden foreign policy is that Harris may be more progressive or leftist in her ideology. This means that she will be more concerned about human rights than traditional American interests. For example, in the recent visit of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to the United States, he met with Biden, Trump and Harris.
The difference among the three was quite stark. Biden reiterated his pledge that the United States would always defend the state of Israel but urged a ceasefire. Trump had a very unique response when he said Israel’s biggest problem was that it had a public relations problem. Harris, on the other hand, while she
