Trump reformulating U.S. foreign policy

Islam Mohamed

International security risks are forcing the U.S. to involve its western allies in coping up with the changes happening in the Middle East.

The U.S. is no longer capable of monopolizing decision-making for the region, especially under President, Donald Trump, who raises the “America first slogan”. President Trump also works to reduce U.S. involvement in the region and specify the bulk of his time to reforming the American economy.

The U.S. works to protect the coalition it formed with the aim of fighting the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda. It wants to use this coalition in fighting the Shiite militias affiliated to Iran. In recent months, these militias have posed threats to U.S. presence in the region, especially in Iraq.

The administration of former U.S. president, Barack Obama was only interested in maintaining oil supplies from the region. However, the current U.S. administration does not care a lot about oil, thanks to the presence of enough oil production in the U.S.

Nonetheless, the U.S. does not want either Iran or Russia to take its stead in the region. It does not want the two countries to threaten American interests in the region either.

NATO member states are now debating the expansion of their operations in the region. According to an American official, the U.S. wants to involve its regional partners in shouldering the burden of security in the region.

Washington also wants to coordinate the activities of NATO member states in Iraq. This can explain why the U.S. started forming a naval coalition a few months ago with the aim of countering Iranian piracy in the Arab Gulf.

The U.S. succeeded in encouraging other countries to join in the coalition, including Japan which said it would send naval units to the Gulf.