Here’s how U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off on six key foreign policy issues.

ELECTION 2016 FOREIGN POLICY SHOWDOWN

RUSSIA

NATO

IRAN

CHINA

ISLAMIC STATE

CLIMATE

NATO

Here’s how U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off on six key foreign policy issues.

ELECTION 2016 FOREIGN POLICY SHOWDOWN

“[President Vladimir] Putin sees geopolitics as a zero-sum game in which, if someone is winning, then someone else has to be losing… The U.S. [must] show both strength and patience. We should work with [Russia] on specific issues when possible, and rally other nations to work with us to prevent or limit [Russia’s] negative behavior when needed. That’s a difficult but essential balance to strike.” ____________________________________________ • Sees Russia as an "adversary" and Putin as a "bully" that one must "continually stand up to" because he "will take as much as he possibly can."  • Emphasizes she has gone “toe-to-toe” with Putin in the past.   • Tighten sanctions to “increase cost” of Moscow’s aggressive actions.  • Help Europe decrease dependence on Russian oil and gas. • Has said Putin wants Trump to win; alleges Kremlin directed a computer hacking attack to influence U.S. election.  ______________________________________________________

“I would treat Vladimir Putin firmly, but there’s nothing I can think of that I’d rather do than have Russia friendly as opposed to the way they are right now, so that we can go and knock out ISIS together.” ____________________________________________ • Has said he would “look into” recognizing Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and lifting related sanctions.   • Has denied Russian troops were in Ukraine after the seizure of Crimea.   • Claims he will be a better negotiator with Putin than Clinton.  • Has said he “hopes” Russia has Hillary Clinton’s emails from when she was secretary of state and will release them publicly.   • Doubts Russia hacked Democratic National Committee computers.   • Emphasizes common threats and interests, including fighting terrorism and controlling migration.______________________________________________________

“Ponder how much more serious the [Ukraine] crisis would be, and how much more difficult it would be to contain further Russian aggression, if Eastern and Central European nations were not now NATO allies. The NATO door should remain open.” ____________________________________________ • Has described NATO as "one of the best investments America has ever made."  • Pledges to “stand shoulder to shoulder with our European allies and push back on and deter Russian aggression in Europe and beyond.” • Says “if America doesn’t lead, we leave a vacuum – and that will either cause chaos, or other countries will rush in to fill the void.” • Build new partnerships in Europe, Middle East, and Asia.  ______________________________________________________

"Our allies must contribute toward the financial, political, and human costs of our tremendous security burden. But many of them are simply not doing so.... I will also call for a summit with our NATO allies, and a separate summit with our Asian allies [to not only] discuss a rebalancing of financial commitments, but take a fresh look at how we can adopt new strategies." ____________________________________________   • NATO as "obsolete." • Has said U.S. would only defend NATO allies from Russian aggression if “they fulfilled their obligations to us.” • Has said he would withhold U.S. support if allies do not increase military spending.  • Upgrade NATO's "outdated mission and structure" to confront Islamic terrorism and the migrant crisis. ______________________________________________________

“The United States will never allow [Iran] to acquire a nuclear weapon. As president, I will take whatever actions are necessary to protect the United States and our allies. I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon.” ____________________________________________ • Backs the 2015 deal that curtails Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from international sanctions.  • Vigorously enforce agreement to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons. • Impose broader strategy to confront Iran’s “bad behavior” in region. • Follow a policy of “distrust and verify,” a reference to the “trust, but verify” phrase famously used by U.S. President Ronald Reagan about the Soviet Union. ______________________________________________________

“Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and, under a Trump administration, will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.… In negotiation, you must be willing to walk. The Iran deal, like so many of our worst agreements, is the result of not being willing to leave the table.” ____________________________________________   • “Disastrous” deal gave Iran too much in return for few concessions.  • Renegotiate nuclear deal.  • Double or triple U.S. sanctions still in place to force Iran back to the negotiating table. • Has threatened that if Iranian patrol boats make inappropriate "gestures" near U.S. ships in Persian Gulf, "they will be shot out of the water."  ______________________________________________________

China is “one of the most challenging relationships we have.” “The United States, like every nation, has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia’s maritime commons, and respect for international law in the South China Sea.… We would not sacrifice our values or our traditional allies in order to win better terms with China.” ____________________________________________ • Build upon U.S. strategic “pivot” to Asia to counter China’s military expansion. • Hold China accountable for aggression in territorial and maritime disputes and for cyberattacks. • Cultivate trust and cooperation on climate change and to rein in North Korea. • Pressure Beijing for responsibility on human rights, trade, and cyberattacks. ______________________________________________________

“It’s time to begin … a more effective coalition air campaign, with more allied planes, more strikes and a broader target set. Air strikes will have to be combined with ground forces, [but not U.S. ground troops]. Local people and nations have to secure their own communities. We can help them and we should, but we cannot substitute for them.” ____________________________________________ • Confront and defeat IS without miring U.S. troops in “misguided ground war.” • Russia and Iran are part of the problem in Syria, attacking opponents of the Syrian regime and doing little against IS.   • Build Iraqi military and governing capacity. • Continue supporting Afghan democracy and security. • Help restore stability in Libya and Yemen. ______________________________________________________

“We should work together with any nation in the region that is threatened by the rise of radical Islam. But this has to be a two-way street. They must also be good to us and remember us and all we are doing for them. The struggle against radical Islam also takes place in our homeland. There are scores of recent migrants inside our borders charged with terrorism.” ____________________________________________   • Defeat IS by working with nations threatened by radical Islam, but require reciprocity. • Says Russia, Iran fight IS and are part of the solution in Syria.   • Refuses to give detailed plan on fighting IS, saying it would take away element of surprise.   • Takes the broad view that U.S. forces should avoid Middle East entanglements.   • Keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan. • Residual U.S. force should have stayed in Iraq. • Bomb IS in Libya.    • • Has said he would tighten immigration controls -- including a temporary "total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States."  • Has endorsed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspects, a practice banned by the U.S. ______________________________________________________

“I won’t let anyone take us backward, deny our economy the benefits of harnessing a clean energy future, or force our children to endure the catastrophe that would result from unchecked climate change.” ____________________________________________ • Climate change is a moral and economic issue, and a “defining national security challenge.” • Lead world’s transformation to clean, renewable energy through ‘intense global engagement’ and domestic development. • Launch a federal program – partnering with state and local governments -- on renewable energy, power grid resilience, and air pollution control. • Install more than half a billion solar panels by 2020.  • Generate enough renewable energy to power every U.S. home by 2026. ______________________________________________________

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.… The federal government should get out of the way … get rid of some of these [energy] regulations. It’s gotten out of control.” ____________________________________________   • Reverse actions by Obama administration aimed at tackling climate change. • Pull the U.S. out of the UN’s 2015 Paris climate conference agreement. • Reduce federal environmental regulations. • Save jobs in coal mining industry. • Expand oil refineries and revive the Keystone XL pipeline project to increase U.S. energy independence. ______________________________________________________

“Fixing our relations with China is another important step towards a prosperous century. China respects strength, and by letting them take advantage of us economically, we have lost all of their respect. We have a massive trade deficit with China, a deficit we must find a way, quickly, to balance. A strong and smart America is an America that will find a better friend in China.” ____________________________________________   • Sees China as one of the top adversaries of the U.S., especially on economic policy.  • Fix relations with China by balancing trade deficit. • Introduce a 45-percent tariff on Chinese imports • Counter Chinese cyberespionage. • Force Beijing to adhere to WTO and other trade rules. • Apply leverage on China to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program. ______________________________________________________