Diplomatic Extortion; Trump and Moral Erosion of US Foreign Policy
DID Press: US President Donald Trump recently boasted that he had “taken billions of dollars from other countries for America” and that some governments even paid him simply to “negotiate with the United States.” While he framed this as a diplomatic triumph, his candid admission exposes a troubling reality: the transformation of American foreign policy into a transactional enterprise, where diplomacy becomes a vehicle for financial gain rather than principled engagement.
Historically, even when the US exerted economic pressure or imposed sanctions, such actions were couched in rhetoric about global security or the promotion of democracy. Successive administrations, even with all their flaws, at least maintained some sort of moral and legal grounding in international affairs. Trump dispensed with that pretense entirely, openly treating diplomacy as a marketplace transaction—a brazen form of extortion.
His approach echoes tactics seen in other corners of the world: Vladimir Putin leverages energy exports to pressure Europe, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan exploits refugee flows to extract concessions from the European Union, and China purchases political influence through massive investments in Africa. Yet Trump’s bluntness sets him apart. Where others cloak their leverage in diplomacy or mutual-interest agreements, he celebrates it as raw financial gain, indifferent to ethical considerations.
The consequences are far-reaching. America’s moral credibility suffers, rivals are emboldened, and the long-term stability of international relations is undermined. While this posture may appeal to populist supporters at home, it erodes U.S. soft power abroad and reduces the country to a mere transactional actor.
If the United States hopes to reclaim its global standing, it must move beyond a “cash-for-influence” approach and recommit to diplomacy grounded in trust, principles, and constructive engagement. Without this, the world risks normalizing a form of international relations dominated by opportunistic financial bargaining—a profound erosion of the norms that have long underpinned global stability.
By Rahel Mousavi