Washington, DC [US], January 22 : Describing the Russia-Ukraine and Middle Eastern conflicts as "Biden Wars," as viewed by US President Trump, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton emphasised Trump's stance on these conflicts, stating that the President "is in kind of a rush to find a way to end them."
Speaking to ANI on Trump's approach to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the former US NSA suggested that Trump's views on these conflicts could be detrimental to Ukraine but could benefit Israel.
"In the case of Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, it is quite clear that Trump wants these wars off the table; he considers them as Biden's wars... He is in kind of a rush to find a way to end them, implying he doesn't care much what terms they are on; that could be bad news for Ukrainians and could be good news for Israelis," Bolton said.
Regarding Trump's foreign policy towards China, Bolton stated that Trump blames the country for COVID-19, which he believes impacted the 2020 elections. He noted Trump's shifting stance on the popular Chinese app TikTok, noting that while Trump initially expressed concern over its security implications, he later expressed interest in saving it. Additionally, Bolton referenced Trump's eagerness to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, signalling a complex relationship with China.
"With respect to China... He blames China because they are the reason for covid, which cost him the 2020 elections... TikTok, a very popular app owned by the Chinese company Bytedance. He has turned from being worried about TikTok as an intelligence vehicle for China to saying he is going to try and save TikTok, and it has been reported in the past couple of days that he has been very eager to visit Xi Jinping and Beijing," the former US NSA added.
Discussing the possibility of President Trump imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Bolton warned of the potential for a trade war, noting the importance of these countries as the US's top trading partners.
He cautioned that such tariffs could trigger a global trade war, with unknown consequences for the global economy, emphasising that the impact would depend on Trump's specific proposals and the reactions from major global economic players such as the UK, the European Union, China, Japan, and India.
"Canada and Mexico are the US number one and number two trading partners. So if he goes ahead with that...we could be in a trade war that could become a global trade war very quickly...We don't have a lot of recent experience with tariff wars, but what we did back before the Depression was not good. The impact on the economy depends in the first instance on exactly what Trump proposes," Bolton said.
"We don't know what that is, but it also depends on what the reaction of the major economic players around the world is. Canada and Mexico, perhaps in the first instance, but the United Kingdom, the European Union, China, Japan and India--what are they going to do, respectively, if Trump imposes tariffs on them as well? So it's a very obscure picture, which I think could be very damaging to the world economy," he added.
On Trump's decisions to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO), Bolton explained that the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement was not surprising, as he viewed international climate change conferences as ineffective and non-binding.
"He pulled out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2017 as well, so it's no surprise he's doing it again. My view is that these big international climate change conferences don't produce concrete movement. There are no enforcement mechanisms. The commitments made are not binding. The Paris Agreement is simply every nation saying, Here are our climate goals, and we commit to trying to achieve those goals, which is nothing more than what any politician wouldn't say, up to the point when they realise they can't achieve the goals and then suddenly they disappear. So I just don't think the Paris Agreement is as significant as some people think," he said.
Regarding the WHO, Bolton said Trump's withdrawal was partly a response to China's influence on the organisation during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bolton stated that this move also sent a message to the UN system about the need for reform.
"WHO is another anti-China move, if you will. Many allegations were made, and I think many are correct, that in the early days of COVID, Chinese influence on the WHO made it impossible for independent medical experts to really get a sense of where the disease came from and what its spread might be. I think he's reacting against the Chinese influence in WHO. You know, it's certainly a signal to the UN system as a whole that it needs to get its act together," the former US NSA added.