Harris Campaign Warns Trump’s Re-Election Could Weaken U.S. Alliances

The campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has raised concerns that re-electing former President Donald Trump could undermine the commitment to extended deterrence for U.S. allies. They also reiterated that a Harris administration would remain dedicated to pursuing denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

At a briefing held at the foreign press center in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, Colin Kahl, the former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, remarked that the Biden administration continues to aim for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This goal will persist into the Harris administration.

He advised against reading too much into the absence of denuclearization in the Democratic Party’s platform, suggesting that people might be overinterpreting it. Kahl is affiliated with Stanford University and helped draft the new Democratic platform.

However, Kahl acknowledged that no experts predict that the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearization will be urgently resolved in the short term. He emphasized that their short-term priority should be to protect allies, including South Korea and Japan, from North Korean threats and to strengthen deterrence. “One of the significant advancements achieved by the Biden-Harris administration has been the strengthening of cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan,” he added.

Kahl contrasted the fundamental difference between the Trump and Harris administrations toward alliances. He criticized Trump for treating allies as entities from which to extract protection, comparing it to paying a membership fee at Mar-a-Lago. He expressed strong concern that if Trump were to be re-elected, it could lead to doubts about the U.S.’s extended deterrence.

When asked about The New York Times report that President Biden had secretly adjusted nuclear strategies in March to prepare for nuclear cooperation among North Korea, China, and Russia, Kahl said, “I cannot comment on classified matters,” but added, “The world is changing, and cooperation among North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran is tightening.”

He stressed that the next president of the United States must be able to respond to the growing coalition of the “axis of evil,” including North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran. Kahl added, “This is not a competition between countries, but a competition of alliances, and it’s about who can draw in more countries to support the U.S.”