What seems to President Trump aspects of American Foreign Policy that may have surprised him.

And, he incorporated three facts to make them hallmarks of his foreign policy, I contend.  These are:

1) NATO under US guidance provides European Defense (similarly, Japan is being defended through US bases on its soil).  

2) China is on fast track to become a world major power due to US encouragement

3) The US military has installations and bases in over 120+ countries worldwide

In each instance, Trump has insisted on pay back for US involvement in accord with certain arrangements with the countries involved, so far as the country is able.  In the case of NATO each member was apportioned a percentage of their budget, I think.

Viewing these three facts, President Trump may have concluded that the US is being made a fool for letting others free load off of US generosity.  I contend nothing could be further from the truth.

Let's look at the reasons for the United States posture over the years in these 3 cases.

1) NATO.  Concern over the Axis powers in WWII prompted the US to assume a major role in Europe's defense.  The idea was voiced after the Second World War, that those countries forming our enemy should not be armed.  Even today, headlines from Germany contain reference to right wing groups that display hostility to the West.  NATO is also opening up the Russian satellite world through its presence in Ukraine.

2) China's leadership have been educated in Western universities, particularly in the US.  President Xi was educated, I believe in an Iowa university.  The obvious financial incentive to learn Western business methods involving deployment of stock markets and capital investment has proved useful in bringing China into the contemporary business world; and has been the basis for their tremendous growth and development in a matter of decades rather than over centuries.  Instead of regarding China as a stepchild learning how to function in a fast-paced nuclear world, Trump has come to regard China, I think, as a free loader, taking all our ideas for their own purposes.  What the US has been doing for lo these many decades is to bring China up to speed as a comparable trading partner to those others the US trades with through the WTO.  Trump would punish China for its copying the West. 

Nevertheless, Trump raises the point that China is presently still classified, through its own actions and policies, a communist nation.  For it was through Mao that the nation became independent, free of foreign domination.  Trump's trade war with China to my mind is an attempt to make China into a foe of the United States, like Russia was during the Cold War.  That move is to my mind thwarted by China's continued dedication to worldwide trade, such that even American corporations seek Chinese advice and permission to maintain their corporate enterprises in China--so to meet the Asian markets for good and services that China already has, including with India, too.  

3) As a step toward peace among nations, the US has set up bases in other countries around the world.  Just by having our presence on foreign soil, we have extended our fellowship and offered what we can in the way of guidance and support to those countries who may be struggling to feed their people and manage the affairs of a viable government.  I believe we have thereby been promoting the cause of peace.  There have been no major wars, lately.

(It is interesting that Russia would have been so thoughtful as to extol peace in its foreign operations--say in Venezuela, where it has propped up an unpopular government, whose policies have led to widespread emigration of its people abroad.)  

(My personal) P.S.  It is by no means a closed matter that China remains Communist.  I have been to China several times and believe they are still learning from us.  The Christian missionary efforts in China continue on; and I have reason to suspect that the number of Christians in China is growing steadily.