Election 2024 Candidate Tracker
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The 2024 Candidates on Foreign Policy

This guide tracks ten leading foreign policy areas for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Last Updated: September 27, 2024

The 2024 Presidential Candidates

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris

Tim Walz
Tim Walz

Vice President Kamala Harris is seeking the presidency while the Biden-Harris administration contends with several foreign policy issues, including wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, surging immigration, and tensions with China.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

JD Vance
JD Vance

Former President Donald Trump is vying for another term to continue his “America First” policies, which offer a marked departure from previous Democratic and Republican presidential administrations.

The rapid ascent of artificial intelligence (AI) has led analysts to predict the beginning of a new era in geopolitics. Meanwhile, TikTok and other foreign technology companies continue to cause concern among policymakers who fear they constitute a threat to national security.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says Washington should do more to ensure that companies use AI tools responsibly. She has overseen initial efforts to create a federal approach to AI governance, and the Biden-Harris administration has taken steps to slow China’s development of advanced technologies.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

As president, Trump unveiled the first national strategies on emerging fields such as AI cybersecurity. He has painted the development of artificial intelligence as an arms race with China while feuding with the U.S. tech giants that are leading the technology’s development.

Strategic competition with China—now one of the world’s two largest economies, alongside the United States—will be one of the most consequential foreign policy challenges confronting the next presidential administration. It will face an increasingly contentious relationship with Beijing on both trade and security issues.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says the United States needs to hold China responsible for human rights violations and distortions of the global economy, but that it needs to work with the country on transnational challenges.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump has sought to confront China over what he says is a suite of economic abuses. He says aggressive action is required to protect American workers and to reduce the United States’ large bilateral trade deficit.

In recent years, extreme weather events have caused increased damage around the world. As global temperatures continue to rise at an alarming rate, the probability of more intense drought, excessive rainfall, severe storms, and bigger wildfires, is growing. Experts warn that shifting climate patterns will facilitate the spread of disease and contribute to food and water shortages.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says the climate crisis is an “existential threat” to humanity. She has supported many of Biden’s climate policies, including his decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement, and she cast the tiebreaking vote to pass the largest clean energy and climate investment bill in U.S. history.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump has repeatedly questioned the science of climate change and expressed doubts about whether human activity is responsible. He has pledged to greatly expand domestic fossil fuel production, overhaul Biden’s clean energy initiatives, and withdraw the United States from major global climate efforts.

American defense strategy has shifted focus to great-power competition with China and Russia after nearly two decades dominated by troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. With U.S. military personnel stationed in 178 countries, the role of the military—and of U.S. alliances—has grown increasingly controversial.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris has positioned herself as a strong supporter of multilateral cooperation and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). She has emphasized the U.S. commitment to Ukraine and furthered domestic space policy as chair of the White House National Space Council.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump has been critical of NATO and has threatened to withdraw from the alliance. As president, he significantly increased defense spending and reoriented the United States’ national security and defense strategy to focus on China and Russia.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to sweeping economic and social changes around the world and raised concerns about global preparedness for future large-scale biological or viral threats. The political divides that the pandemic response engendered could now threaten the future of U.S. programs on global health that once operated with strong bipartisan support.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris has prioritized national and international health-care issues. She has long been an outspoken supporter of reproductive rights and promises to restore abortion rights that were overturned by the Supreme Court. She has also played a role in the administration’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump oversaw the federal response to the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorizing trillions of dollars of economic stimulus and a public-private partnership to develop a vaccine. He withdrew Washington from the WHO and imposed a rule preventing organizations that receive U.S. funds from using any foreign aid money for abortion-related purposes.

The contentious immigration debate has taken center stage in national politics as migration to the U.S.-Mexico border continues to surge, straining local and federal resources. Border security and asylum policy have grown increasingly divisive, and efforts toward comprehensive immigration reform have repeatedly foundered in Congress.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. She was tasked with heading the federal effort to address root causes of migration from Central America, though her comments dissuading would-be migrants from traveling to the United States have created controversy.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Immigration and border policy remain signature issues for Trump, and the party’s 2024 platform renews his vows to implement a slew of measures to sharply reduce both legal and illegal immigration. This includes building upon actions taken during his first term to drastically reshape asylum, border, and deportation policy.

The health of the U.S. economy is a major factor in the United States’ ability to influence events abroad. It continues to outpace its peers, but many economists point to signs of trouble: debt levels are soaring, inflation remains high, and U.S. firms lag in manufacturing certain advanced technologies.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says her economic policy is based on creating opportunities for the middle class. The Biden-Harris administration has focused on making public investments in infrastructure and green energy, challenging monopolistic consolidation, and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans to pay for its surge in spending.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

As president, Trump emphasized tax cuts and deregulatory economic policies, which he says spurred growth, innovation, and employment. He says government spending needs “massive cuts” to bring down inflation. 

The Middle East continues to command global attention and pose challenges to the United States as attacks by the Houthi rebel group threaten supply chains and debate continues over how to respond to destabilizing behavior by Iran. Meanwhile, as the war between Israel and Hamas drags on—and as its death toll mounts—the prospect of long-standing peace in the region appears increasingly remote.

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris supports a cease-fire and hostage-release deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. She also calls for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a senator, she endorsed the Iran nuclear deal and voted for restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump’s approach to the Middle East has been defined by strong support for Israel and Saudi Arabia, and a confrontational stance toward Iran. He backed away from long-standing bipartisan consensus by saying he wasn’t interested in a separate Palestinian state.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the most destructive war in Europe since World War II, has dramatically heightened tensions between Russia and Western countries, which have imposed a bevy of sanctions on Moscow. The United States and its allies have armed and funded the Ukrainian government, sparking debate in Washington. 

 

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says the United States will back Ukraine’s defensive efforts against Russia for “as long as it takes” to counter the threat that a Russian victory would pose to the rest of Europe. She has represented the United States at peace talks on Ukraine and encouraged Congress to give Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump says that he wouldn’t commit to approving additional U.S. aid to Ukraine if reelected. As president, he cultivated warmer relations with Russia, though he also extended sanctions on Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Ukrainian territory and withdrew from a major U.S.-Russia arms control treaty.

For decades, the United States led the charge for global trade liberalization, driven by the belief that open, rules-based markets boost prosperity and expand Washington’s influence. In recent years, rising income inequality, an increasingly assertive China, and the decline of the U.S. industrial base have led to growing skepticism about this model within both major parties.

 

Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris

Harris says major trade deals should include protections for workers and the climate. She has criticized tariffs but says the United States should “de-risk” trade with China. The Biden-Harris administration has overseen the creation of massive subsidy programs for green energy, infrastructure, and technology.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

Trump argues that the global trading system is rigged against U.S. interests and responsible for large trade deficits, declining U.S. manufacturing, and the offshoring of American jobs. The 2024 party platform promises to return the United States to the “manufacturing superpower of the world” through “rebalancing trade” towards domestic production.