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JD Vance on Foreign Policy
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Just because we don't like Putin doesn't mean we can't talk
Q: Do you see Putin as an ally or an enemy?A: Well, I think that he's clearly an adversary. He is a competitor. But I think that we also have to be smart about diplomacy, too. Just because we don't like somebody doesn't mean that we can't occasionally
engage in conversations with them. And I think it's important if we're ever going to end the war in Ukraine, we're going to have to engage in some sort of negotiation between Ukraine, Russia, our NATO allies in Europe.
A: When you say that he's an
adversary, you're not willing to call him an enemy?
Q: I don't want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin's Russia. I think that we should try to pursue avenues of peace. I'd also call China a competitor, but we're not in a war with China either.
I do think, though, that China constitutes the biggest threat that we have for the United States of America. And I think that we have to be serious about it. But I think we have to be careful about the language that we use in international diplomacy.
Source: Meet the Press interview: 2024 Vice Presidential Veepstakes
, Oct 27, 2024
Withdrawing US military from Mideast sends wrong message
I don't think that we should be taking assets out of the Middle East at a time when our most important ally in the region is coming under significant attack. I don't think that would send the right message. And, most importantly, it's not just Israel.
It's us. We have interests that are important in the Middle East. We obviously have to deal with the Houthis somehow, because we want to reopen the lines of global trade. Very hard to do that if we do a full-scale withdrawal.I think a lot of
countries are going to try to manipulate our voters. They're going to try to manipulate our elections. That's what they do. I think the bigger question is, what is in our best interest vis-a-vis Russia, not what price Russia should pay for putting out
social media videos.
I don't think that we should set American foreign policy based on a foreign country spreading videos on social media. I think we should set American foreign policy based on what's in our best interest.
Source: CBS Face the Nation interview: 2024 Veepstakes
, Oct 27, 2024
Pivot US policy to China and away from Europe
After gaining the Republican nomination for vice-president, [Vance says] that the focus of US foreign policy would be China, which he described as "the biggest threat" to his country. Vance is known as a China hawk and a loyal supporter of
Trump's "America first" agenda. He has long backed pivoting US foreign policy away from Ukraine and back towards East Asia, supporting Trump's plan to increase tariffs on Chinese goods that were undercutting American workers.
Source: South China Morning Post on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 16, 2024
Putin is a bad guy, but there's no Domino Theory in Europe
Some in favor [of US support of Ukraine] warn that unless the United States helps repel Russian invaders there, they will conquer Ukraine and Russian leader Vladmir Putin will then seek to take more of Europe, as Adolf Hitler did nearly nine decades
ago. Vance rejects the 'Domino Theory' in Europe: "The domino theory of politics that I guess probably goes back to the Vietnam War certainly was true in Iraq and now is definitely true with regards to Ukraine; there's kind of like this sense that we're
constantly back in the 1930s: if you don't stop the bad guy, he's going to keep on taking territory."Of the threat of Russian expansion into other European countries, Vance said: "We have to analyze these things in their own historical context.
And Vladimir Putin might be a bad guy, and in fact I think he is, but he's not nearly as powerful in relative terms as Hitler‘s Germany was in the late 1930s. So the idea that he poses a risk to the broader European continent is just absurd to me."
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer on 2024 Veepstakes
, May 15, 2024
Let Israel prosecute this war the way they see fit
Q: President Biden believes that too many civilians have been killed with U.S. weapons [by Israel in Gaza].A: there are two big problems with what the Biden administration is doing. First of all, it's a fundamentally incoherent policy.
On the one hand, they're saying too many Palestinian civilians have been killed. With the other hand, they're depriving the Israelis of the precision-guided weapons that actually cut down on civilian casualties.
So, if you're worried about Palestinian casualties, the stated policy here actually doesn't make a ton of sense. And I think the bigger problem here if we zoom out is, look, and I hate to say this, but
America is not good at micromanaging wars in the Middle East. The Israelis are our allies. Let them prosecute this war the way they see fit.
Source: CNN SOTU interview on 2024 Republican Veepstakes
, May 12, 2024
Our military should not be used to "nation build"
Q: With regard to America's foreign policy, which view most closely resembles yours?A: [AFA choice C]: "The US has become too involved in others' policies and should remain focused on issues regarding our own sovereignty unless in imminent danger."
[Vance's comment]: As a Marine, I have seen too many brothers and sisters die fighting in wars we should have never been in. Our military should not be used to "nation build". We should only be involved in war if it is in the US' best interest.
Q:
What should the US do to help eradicate the threat of Islamic terrorism?
A: Most important thing we can do is empower our allies in the region, especially Israel. Our military should be focused on destroying threats to this country, not nation
building, and the best way to eradicate Islamic terrorism is to ensure that threats to this country are dealt with swiftly. We don't need gender studies programs in Afghanistan; we need the threat of American power when people threaten our citizens.
Source: American Family Association 2022 iVoterGuide
, Nov 1, 2022
Put Americans first in response to Russia-Ukraine war
[Democratic opponent Rep. Tim] Ryan and Vance want the U.S. to have different roles in the war between Ukraine and Russia. When asked how the U.S. should respond if Russian President Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, Vance said "nobody knows"
what the best course of action would be. He went on to argue that foreign policy should put Americans first, and he believes the Biden administration hasn't done enough to deescalate the conflict.Ryan called for a "swift and significant response" if
that occurs and argued Vance is weak on Russia. The congressman also criticized his opponent for saying he doesn't "really care what happens to Ukraine."
"I've been to Parma," said Ryan, referring to the Cleveland suburb with a large Ukrainian-
American population. "I've met with the refugees. I meet with the women and the daughters and sons because the husbands are in Ukraine fighting. That's the kind of freedom we need to support, and J.D. Vance would let Putin roll right through Ukraine."
Source: The Columbus Dispatch on 2022 Ohio Senate race
, Oct 10, 2022
WWII distrust of Japanese now applies to Chinese
Kawasaki, [who merged with Vance's hometown Armco steel mill], was a Japanese company, and in a town full ofWorld War II vets and their families, you'd have thought that General Tojo himself had decided to set up shop in southwest Ohio when the merger
was announced. The opposition was mostly a bunch of noise. Even [Vance's grandfather] Papaw--who once promised he'd disown his children if they bought a Japanese car--stopped complaining a few days after they announced the merger. "The truth is," he told
me, "that the Japanese are our friends now. If we end up fighting any of those countries, it'll be the goddamned Chinese." The Kawasaki merger represented an inconvenient truth: Manufacturing in America was a tough business in the
post-globalization world. If companies like Armco were going to survive, they would have to retool. Kawasaki gave Armco a chance, and Middletown's flagship company probably would not have survived without it.
Source: Hillbilly Elegy, by Sen. JD Vance, p. 53-4
, May 25, 2017
Address successive failures of Bush/Obama foreign policy
The last point I'll make about Trump is this: these people, his voters, are proud. A big chunk of the white working class has deep roots in Appalachia, and the Scots-Irish honor culture is alive and well. We were taught to raise our
fists to anyone who insulted our mother. I probably got in a half dozen fights when I was six years old. Unsurprisingly, southern, rural whites enlist in the military at a disproportionate rate. Can you imagine the humiliation these people feel at
the successive failures of Bush/Obama foreign policy? My military service is the thing I'm most proud of, but when I think of everything happening in the Middle East,
I can't help but tell myself: I wish we would have achieved some sort of lasting victory. No one touched that subject before Trump, especially not in the Republican Party.
Source: The American Conservative on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 22, 2016
Page last updated: Oct 30, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org