(Ben Nelms/Bloomerg/Getty Images)
OTTAWA – Former prime minister Stephen Harper says Donald Trump’s presidency is a major source of international uncertainty that will “reverse” seven decades of U.S. foreign policy.
Harper delivers that assessment today in a speech in New Delhi, the speaking notes for which were obtained by The Canadian Press.
He says Trump’s foreign policy will scale back U.S. involvement in global affairs and be guided by narrow economic interests, while coming to view China as a “geopolitical adversary.”
The speech comes on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, and represents Harper’s most sweeping foreign policy pronouncement since he lost power in October 2015.
The Liberal government says it is seeking common ground with the Trump administration on promoting middle-class growth, but Harper says friends and allies of the U.S. — he doesn’t mention Canada by name — will have to bring “real assets” to the table.
Trump has said he wants other NATO members to spend more in the alliance while his incoming commerce secretary is promising a sweeping overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
