The foreign policy of Donald Trump in historical perspective

Commentators around the world draw some startling analogies when they seek to assess President Donald Trump, some even likening him to a Roman emperor or an inter-war dictator. In this lecture, Niall Ferguson puts Trump's foreign policy in an Anglo-American historical perspective.

Trump has cited William McKinley as a role-model, but a much closer resemblance is to Richard Nixon. In his policies towards both allies and adversaries, Trump owes a debt to Nixon, notably to the twin "shocks" of 1971 and the triangular diplomacy with Moscow and Beijing. However, the 2020s differ in many ways from the 1970s. There are clear risks to dusting down Nixon's playbook.