Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would face challenges in Israel, Ukraine, China

WASHINGTON — The next commander in chief will be confronted with a long list of international challenges: escalating tensions in the Middle East, a long-running war in Ukraine, and the growing global influence of China.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump have stated vastly different approaches to addressing the foreign policy challenges that face the United States. Trump is pledging a return to the "America First" brand of isolationism that defined his four years in office, while Harris is promising to maintain long-standing international alliances.

While domestic issues, including the economy, often dominate presidential elections, the current landscape of foreign policy challenges has the potential to influence the outcome in swing states, foreign policy analysts told Newsday.

In the battleground state of Michigan, which Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly flipped in 2020, a sizable Arab American and Muslim community has protested the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The reliably Democratic voting bloc has raised concerns about U.S. support for Israel amid growing casualties among Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

In the swing state of Pennsylvania, which Trump narrowly won in 2016 but Biden flipped by a slim margin in 2020, both campaigns are courting the support of the state’s Polish American community. Poland borders both Ukraine and Russia, and Polish President Andrzej Duda has raised concerns that Russia will continue to invade other sovereign lands if Ukraine is unsuccessful in pushing back Russian forces.

"A Harris administration is viewed as largely being an extension of traditional Democratic policies, whereas Trump could really go in lots of different directions with respect to alliances and trade," said Jeffrey Friedman, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and the author of the book "The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy."

Here is a look at where each candidate stands on key foreign policy issues:

Israel-Hamas war

Both Harris and Trump have pledged support for Israel, and both say Israel has a right to defend itself after Hamas launched an attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 250 individuals.

Harris has said the United States should continue to work with allies to broker a cease fire between Israel and Hamas that would entail the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, including Omer Neutra, of Plainview, who is one of seven Israeli Americans still in captivity.

While expressing support for Israel, Harris also recently told CBS News’ "60 Minutes" that "far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," and has called for a postwar two-state solution.

"We must chart a course for a two-state solution, and in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians," Harris said at the Sept. 10 presidential debate. 

Trump also has leveled some criticism at Israel, telling Univision last November: "Israel has to do a better job of public relations, frankly, because the other side is beating them at the public relations front."

Trump has not indicated if he would support a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state, saying "I’d have to see" when asked his position during his June debate against Biden.

"Trump is the more aggressive sword-rattler, and the more stalwart supporter of Israel, and less insistent on working toward a two-state solution," said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. "Harris starts by emphasizing the U.S. support for Israel as a state, but then pivots to deep concerns about how the war is being carried out, and then concludes with the two-state solution as the ultimate ‘fix.’ "

Ukraine

The Biden administration has played an active role in rallying U.S. and NATO support for Ukraine after Russian forces launched an invasion in February 2022. Months before the invasion, U.S. intelligence officials publicly shared intelligence showing a buildup of Russian troops and supplies near the Ukrainian border, hoping to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from moving forward with an invasion.

Harris has pledged to carry on Biden’s staunch support for Ukraine, describing the decision to help the country as a moral and strategic decision.

"No nation is safe in a world where one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, where crimes against humanity are committed with impunity, where a country with imperialist ambitions can go unchecked," Harris said during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February.

Trump repeatedly has said that if reelected he would negotiate an end to the war before taking office, by bringing Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together for talks. When asked last month for details, Trump did not respond directly.

"Let's get some peace," Trump told reporters when he met with Zelenskyy in New York last month. "We need peace. We need to stop the death and destruction. Don't you think? Wouldn't that be nice?"

NATO allies are closely watching the election, recognizing that Trump often has been critical of the alliance formed in the aftermath of World War II, Dartmouth's Friedman said.

"The issue is not just what happens with Ukraine itself," Friedman said, "but the way that allies see Ukraine as a fulcrum for broader questions about the resilience of U.S. support for European security." 

China

Both Harris and Trump have cast China as one of the United States’ biggest rivals, asserting that China’s growing economic and military influence poses a threat to U.S. interests.

Trump contends that the United States should combat China’s growing influence by targeting its economy. He has proposed imposing a 60% tariff on imported Chinese goods, a move he contends will refocus consumer spending on U.S. goods, but which economists have said will increase prices for consumers.

"What’s going to happen and who’s going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years," Trump said at the Sept. 10 presidential debate, defending his proposal.

During his first term, Trump imposed a series of tariffs on China, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Trump has taken aim at Harris by noting that the Biden-Harris administration allowed the bulk of those tariffs to carry over past Trump’s time in office.

Harris said during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August that she will ensure that "America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century."

She has touted the current administration’s trade policies aimed at keeping American technology — including semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment — out of China, in response to concerns that China was stealing intellectual property from U.S. manufacturers.

"The most significant foreign policy challenge facing the next president is how to deal with the rise of China," Friedman said. "The stakes there are very high ... be it trade relationships, security relationships in East Asia. Harris and Trump, Democrats and Republicans, in my view are relatively aligned on a desire to confront China."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.