[345] Hallmarks of foreign relations during Trump's tenure included unpredictability and uncertainty,[342] a lack of a consistent foreign policy,[346] and strained and sometimes antagonistic relationships with the U.S.'s European allies.[347]
Trump questioned the need for NATO,[343] criticized the U.S.'s NATO allies, and privately suggested on multiple occasions that the United States should withdraw from the alliance.[348][349]

Trade
See also: Trump tariffs
Trump is a skeptic of trade liberalization, adopting these views in the 1980s, and sharply criticized NAFTA during the Republican primary campaign in 2015.[350][351] He withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations,[352] imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports,[353] and launched a trade war with China by sharply increasing tariffs on 818 categories (worth $50 billion) of Chinese goods imported into the U.S.[354] While Trump said that import tariffs are paid by China into the U.S. Treasury, they are paid by American companies that import goods from China.[355] Although he pledged during the campaign to significantly reduce the U.S.'s large trade deficits, the trade deficit in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, "was the largest monthly deficit since July 2008".