U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on February 14, 2025 | Photo by the White House via Wikimedia Commons
Undoubtedly, the Trump administration 2.0 is giving pause to many diplomatic posts in Washington, DC as they anticipate the changes that may come as President Trump ushers in “the dawn of the Golden Age of America.”
In his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, President Trump was unequivocal: “America is back,” he declared, recollecting that from the moment he stood beneath the dome of the Capitol, “it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era” in the United States’ history.
Predictably, the first few weeks of the new Trump administration have shown many changes almost immediately, as the president signed “nearly 100 Executive Orders and taken more than 400 Executive Actions…” to “restore common sense, safety, optimism and wealth” all across the United States, which, the president said, is what he was elected to do.
“The American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again,” he told the members of Congress, urging Democrats to work with him to make America great truly.
“Every day my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a future America deserves and we’re doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action.”
Even before his over 90-minute speech—the longest joint address to Congress in recent history—many changes were underway, especially in foreign policy. The biggest one is undoubtedly in the European theater, particularly the Ukraine conflict.
During the recent Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) “Prospects of the Philippines” conference, one of the most asked questions was about the heated exchange that resulted in the meeting at the Oval Office between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In his interviews, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it very clear that President Trump is “trying to bring an end to this conflict” and that the plan is to “get the Russians to a negotiating table” and explore whether peace is possible.
Secretary Rubio explained that if signed, the minerals deal was supposed to be “an agreement that binds America economically to Ukraine,” which would be a “security guarantee in its own way” because America would be involved. It would be in its interest to protect Ukraine.
As I told the FOCAP members and local media who were present, one has to read between the lines and understand President Trump’s mantra of “America First” to see what he believes in. The bottom line, I think, is that he does not want the United States to be a country that will continue to finance conflicts that are happening all over the world – a style he has practiced as “the art of deal-making” in forcing Ukraine and Russia to come to the negotiating table.
“As I have always emphasized to legislators and officials in Washington, we are not there to ask for money. We are asking for opportunities to partner with investments so we can carry our weight in defense partnerships instead of just asking and receiving.”
The obvious lesson to be learned is that each country must be ready to beef up its defense and boost its economic security in the long run. That’s precisely what we have been trying to do even during the time of president Duterte – telling our friends in Washington that we want to be economically prosperous to achieve economic security so that we will have our own wherewithal and resources to modernize our armed forces – and be a real partner not only of the United States with our mutual defense treaty, but other like-minded countries as well.
There is no question that every country has its own role in the global arena—a give-and-take, quid pro quo kind of diplomacy in which everybody does their part and is not reliant or dependent on one country.
As I have always emphasized to legislators and officials in Washington, we are not there to ask for money. We are asking for opportunities to partner with investments so we can carry our weight in defense partnerships instead of just asking and receiving.
In other words, diplomacy can also be approached as a business partnership where the conditions are mutually beneficial and satisfactory to both partners—perhaps the best way to navigate the foreign policy direction in Washington today with the Trump administration’s business orientation.
Many people I know are starting to think that this could also be applied to other countries. In the Philippines, we have never really had a businessman as president. Still, people have been talking about it recently and wondering whether a businessman or a CEO would be better as the next president, who could have the technical and administrative skills to run the country.
Realistically speaking, the Philippines plays a role in global security because of its geographic location. This is why we must be strong enough economically and militarily to play a major regional role.
A good indication of where President Trump has set his sights on is when he said, “We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars, and even far beyond.”
Who knows what it would be like 50 years ago – diplomacy could be conducted in space. Planets will have their own diplomats and armed forces – and that would, indeed, be literally out of this world.
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