US President-elect Donald Trump uses the mantle of unpredictability to disguise his foreign policy intentions. However behind his missteps the incoming Trump administration has no consistent worldview from which to fashion a coherent strategy. It is more prudent to expect US foreign policy to be reactive, piecemeal, and improvised.

With just weeks before the start of Donald Trump’s presidency one thing has become abundantly clear: American foreign policy is going to experience a dramatic but unpredictable shift. From NATO to Israel, policies that were once inviolate seem more pliable than ever. A Trumpian foreign policy will be one of surprises, uncertainty, and volatility, expected of a man who embraces unpredictability as a virtue.

Because he has been careful to cultivate the image of a man playing his cards close to his chest, some experts and analysts have ascribed to Trump some sort of vague Machiavellian quality to make sense of his decision-making. His phone call with President Tsai Ing-wen has been rationalised as playing some sort of a Taiwan card. However, there is a much simpler explanation: President-elect Donald Trump and his administration have no consistent worldview to formulate a coherent foreign policy.

… Harry Sa is a Research Analyst with the United States Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.