The Trump Administration has jettisoned so-called soft power foreign policy practices that for decades created goodwill toward the U.S. and increased American influence around the world at a relatively low cost. An inventory of soft power tools includes humanitarian assistance, investments in public health, conflict resolution and stabilization initiatives, democracy and free speech promotion, and the broadcasting of trustworthy news and information.
The weakening of U.S. soft power comes at a time when the U.S. and other Western governments are seeking to break China’s near monopoly on the mining and processing of strategic materials required by digital infrastructure critical to national defense and for achieving a sustainable energy future.
The massive up-front investment required in mining and related operations renders the current climate of heightened political and operational risk particularly problematic for business interests. The dramatic recent pullback from the use of so-called soft power by the United States has created a vacuum in the human security space that geopolitical rivals are capitalizing on to discredit western business activities in the developing world.