Trump Approach: "Values create obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests.”

Values = freedom, human dignity, the way people are treated

Old Approach = use American influence to advance the rights of minorities around the world, to negotiate a new arms control deal or to set norms of behavior for nations that attack each other with cyberweapons

Trump Approach: "Values create obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests.”

From the NYTimes:

“Let’s talk first about my view of how you translate ‘America First’ into our foreign policy,” he said, and then went on to describe an era in which American economic and security interests would be paramount.

To many in the department, Mr. Tillerson’s speech was notable for what it did not include. Over the previous five presidencies, questions of how to use American influence to advance the rights of minorities around the world, to negotiate a new arms control deal or to set norms of behavior for nations that attack each other with cyberweapons had become the focus of American diplomacy. Not anymore.

And when Mr. Tillerson spoke of human rights, it was to caution that, while the United States always treasures “freedom, human dignity, the way people are treated,” those values would often not be reflected in policies. Values, he warned, cannot be allowed to “create obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests.”