Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey
You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - March 10, 2017
Trump Administration (first term)  Vice President Mike Pence Cabinet • White House staff • Transition team • Trump's second term |
Domestic affairs: Abortion • Crime and justice • Education • Energy and the environment • Federal courts • Firearms policy • First Amendment • Healthcare • Immigration • Infrastructure • LGBTQ issues • Marijuana • Puerto Rico • Social welfare programs • Veterans • Voting issues Economic affairs and regulations: Agriculture and food policy • Budget • Financial regulation • Jobs • Social Security • Taxes • Trade Foreign affairs and national security: Afghanistan • Arab states of the Persian Gulf • China • Cuba • Iran • Iran nuclear deal • Islamic State and terrorism • Israel and Palestine • Latin America • Military • NATO • North Korea • Puerto Rico • Russia • Syria • Syrian refugees • Technology, privacy, and cybersecurity |
| Polling indexes: Opinion polling during the Trump administration |
This is the March 10, 2017, edition of an email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition, cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
Although President Donald Trump’s first seven weeks in office have focused on domestic policy, several Cabinet members have traveled abroad on diplomatic trips. Today, we will examine how the United States is being represented internationally. To which countries have Trump’s secretaries traveled? How do their travel logs compare to those of officials from former President Barack Obama’s administration during his first term in office? And who has Trump chosen to nominate for key ambassador positions?
President Donald Trump
Trump has not yet made any trips abroad. His travel activity has been centered on domestic trips along the East Coast, with four of the past seven weekends spent in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. He hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his golf course there in February. Trump remained in Washington, D.C., during the other three.
Trump also traveled to Dover, Delaware, in February to attend the dignified transfer ceremony for Navy SEAL William Owens, the first American to die in combat under his administration.
Scheduled international trips
Trump is scheduled to make several international trips this summer to Europe beginning in late May, including Belgium for a NATO summit, Italy for a G7 summit, and Germany for a G20 summit.
He is also expected to visit the United Kingdom from October 5-8 after a previously scheduled trip in June was postponed due to concerns that there would be disruptive protests.
How does Trump compare to Obama?
In his first seven weeks in office, Obama made one trip abroad to Canada, where he met with then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Obama’s international travel began in earnest in April of his first term. He visited eight countries that month: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iraq, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
Read more about foreign policy under the Trump administration.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
Germany
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his first trip abroad to Bonn, Germany, on February 15, as part of a preliminary gathering of diplomatic officials representing G20 countries—the 20 major economies in the world—prior to a summit scheduled in July.
While there, he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and made the following remarks on U.S.-Russia relations and conflict in Ukraine: “As I made clear in my Senate confirmation hearing, the United States will consider working with Russia where we can find areas of practical cooperation that will benefit the American people. Where we do not see eye to eye, the United States will stand up for the interests and values of America and her allies. As we search for new common ground, we expect Russia to honor its commitment to the Minsk agreements and work to de-escalate the violence in the Ukraine.”
Mexico
Tillerson traveled to Mexico the following week on February 22 where he met with Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso to discuss border security, transnational criminal networks, and the illegal firearms and drug trade. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly also participated in the visit.
You can find Tillerson’s travel record on the official Department of Defense website here.
How does Tillerson compare to Clinton?
Over the same period of time, from her first overseas trip on February 16, 2009, to March 10, 2009, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited 10 countries and territories, including China, Belgium, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Palestine, South Korea, Switzerland, and Turkey. Strengthening relations with Asian nations was identified as one of the primary diplomatic drives of the Obama administration in its first term—an effort often referred to as the “pivot to Asia.” For this reason, Clinton’s first international tour was in East Asia, beginning with Japan.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis
South Korea and Japan
Secretary of Defense James Mattis traveled to South Korea for his first foreign trip on February 3. While there, he discussed North Korean military development and reinforced the United States' plan to establish a missile defense system in South Korea within the year. He added, "North Korea continues to launch missiles, develop its nuclear weapons program, and engage in threatening rhetoric and behavior. We stand with our peace-loving Republic of Korea ally to maintain stability on the peninsula and in the region. America's commitments to defending our allies and to upholding our extended deterrence guarantees remain ironclad: Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming."
During his visit to Japan the following day, he said that the U.S. would continue to honor the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which includes a provision acknowledging Japan as the administrator of the Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited group of islands in the East South China Sea with disputed sovereignty.
Belgium, Germany, Iraq, and United Arab Emirates
Mattis also visited Belgium, German, Iraq, and United Arab Emirates in February, meeting with those countries’ defense ministers and military service members. While in Iraq, he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Minister of Defense Arfan al-Hayal to discuss counter-ISIS operations.
You can find Mattis’ travel record on the official Department of Defense website here.
How does Mattis compare to Gates?
Robert Gates, who served as secretary of defense under the Bush administration and was retained by Obama in his first term, traveled to one country in February 2009: Poland. He participated in a meeting of defense ministers to discuss the conflict in Afghanistan and an upcoming NATO summit.
Ambassadors and representatives
Confirmed
- Nikki Haley — Ambassador to the United Nations: Haley was confirmed by the Senate to be the next ambassador to the United Nations on January 24, 2017. Only four senators voted against her nomination—Chris Coons (D-Del.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.). She previously served as the governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017.
Nominated
- Terry Branstad — Nominee for Ambassador to China: Trump announced on December 6, 2016, that he had selected Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)—the longest-serving governor in U.S. history—as his nominee for ambassador to China. Branstad and Chinese President Xi Jinping have known each other since Branstad’s first term in office. Branstad said in an interview last week that he expected his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be held in the first week of April.
- David Friedman — Nominee for Ambassador to Israel: On December 15, 2016, Trump announced that he had selected attorney David Friedman as his nominee for ambassador to Israel. Friedman appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 16, where he discussed a possible two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said, “If the Israelis and the Palestinians were able, through direct negotiations, to achieve a two-state solution along parameters agreeable to them … I have expressed my skepticism about the two-state solution solely on the basis of what I have perceived as an unwillingness on the part of the Palestinians to renounce terror and accept Israel as a Jewish state. I think that in my view is a foundational problem, but I think it can be remedied and I hope it is.”
- Jon Huntsman, Jr. — Nominee for Ambassador to Russia: Jon Huntsman, Jr., the former governor of Utah and a 2012 Republican presidential candidate, reportedly accepted Trump’s nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia on Thursday. He previously served as the U.S. ambassador to China under Obama from 2009 to 2011 and the U.S. ambassador to Singapore under former President George H.W. Bush from 1992 to 1993.
- Robert Lighthizer — Nominee for U.S. Trade Representative: Trump announced he would nominate attorney Robert Lighthizer for U.S. trade representative on January 3. If confirmed, Lightizer will lead U.S. trade policy by negotiating with foreign governments and businesses, resolving disputes, representing the country in international trade policy organizations, and advising the president. Lighthizer previously served as the deputy trade representative under the Reagan administration. His hearing before the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled for next Tuesday.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
| |||||||||||||||||||
