In this paper, Thomas Wright explores how US foreign policy would change should Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton win the US presidential election. Wright argues that a Trump presidency could see the United States undermine the liberal international order that it helped to establish. Clinton, by contrast, would be a more traditional internationalist president.

Key findings:

• Trump’s foreign policy will very likely be informed by his core beliefs: opposition to America’s alliance relationships; opposition to free trade; and support for authoritarianism, particularly in Russia.
• Clinton’s foreign policy is likely to reflect a more traditional internationalism, but may also distinguish itself from the Obama administration by a greater effort to deal with regional challenges to order in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
• If Clinton wins, she will need to respond to growing populist and nationalist sentiment in America in favour of limiting US engagement in the world.