President Trump’s brave decision to gut the terrible Iran deal puts the United States in an even stronger negotiation position when he sits down with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.
While much of the hard work is still ahead, President Trump has already secured Pyongyang’s commitment to halt its nuclear program and – just as importantly – release three American citizens who had been imprisoned in brutal North Korean labor camps.
President Trump was there on the tarmac in the middle of the night at Joint Base Andrews to be the first face they saw when their flight to freedom brought them home.
That’s leadership.
But despite remarkable developments in foreign policy over the past few weeks, America’s global leadership role, cemented in the wake of the Allied victory in World War II, continues to strain at the edges.
America has, over the past few decades, too often decided to take a seat on the global stage shoulder to shoulder with other nations, friend and foe, instead of at the head of the table.
Taking different forms and driven by varied political ideals, we have been loath to play our role as first among equals, that Jeffersonian ideal that America can be an Empire of Liberty.
That’s not putting America First.
When pursuing shared or self-interest abroad, recent administrations have first sought to find consensus and build coalitions with nations around the world, rather than pursue what is best. That approach finds us at the least common denominator, the watered down, vanilla shadow of what we aim to secure.
That posture spells opportunity for those with the ambition and means to fill the void.
Few examples are more painful than President Obama’s shameful rejection of American exceptionalism in 2013. His doctrine was on full display when he backed down from America’s red line, one he himself drew, in the wake of Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own people.
Our adversaries took notice, with China out front by most measures. We can’t say we were not warned.
President Obama’s own National Intelligence Council published a report in 2012, warning that "with the rapid rise of other countries, the 'unipolar moment' is over, and 'Pax Americana' -- the era of American ascendancy in international politics that began in 1945 -- is fast winding down."
The report predicted China’s rise in global influence as America’s and Europe’s economic roles declined.
The dots all connect not in the Middle East, but in Africa, where the intelligence community authors of “Global Trends 2030” noted that urbanization on the continent and a rapid population growth in cities would strain Africa’s often frail infrastructure.
Who was there to offer a solution?
China.
Long neglected by American foreign policy priorities, Africa is positioned to fuel the engine of innovation and technological expansion around the world via the continent’s vast natural resources. Beyond the familiar reserves of gold, platinum, and diamonds are minerals that are just as valuable – if not more so – to industrial, defense, and consumer applications.
One of those lesser-known resources is cobalt, a blue mineral that’s used to strengthen metals for jet engines and other military applications, and can be found in the batteries that power our cellphones and laptops, and store energy on our electrical grid.
Given its uses, cobalt is considered one of the most vital strategic resources to support innovation over the decades ahead.
China knows this.
Beijing has been on the African continent for years, filling the void with easy money and know-how while claiming stake to billions of dollars in resource rights and revenues across the continent, from South Africa to Nigeria, while establishing Beijing’s first military base in Djibouti last year.
The move is meant to establish China’s own supply chain of raw materials that can feed Beijing’s appetite for economic growth and innovation. A Chinese monopoly – a real threat – would not only blunt the commercial dominance of the U.S. and our and European allies, but limit or even eliminate America’s ability to source these defense and industrial assets.
While America doesn’t need to match China’s estimated million citizens in Africa, we do need to ensure that our own access to the resources of tomorrow is secured through proactive and decisive engagement.
That’s taking our seat at the head of the table. That’s putting America First.
