President Trump has demonstrated time and again that he values unilateralism over multilateralism, coercion and threats over inducements and persuasion, economic warfare over militarism, and a strange mix of social media and now TV diplomacy over traditional diplomatic channels.

The question is: does all this amount to a carefully designed foreign policy? Is there such a thing as a Trump world view of sorts? This matters a great deal because, although US unipolarity is certainly over, in many respects Washington continues to lead the way and so just as the US was the main architect of the order that emerged from WWII, so too it will now be at the centre of whatever comes next.

To address these questions, this episode introducesthe topic and explores the main underpinnings of President Trump’s foreign policy during his first administration, while the next episode will explore the emerging traits of President Trump’s world vision during this second mandate.