Harris, Trump clash on global crisis, dodging questions on Ukraine, Gaza

As US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump took the stage on Tuesday (10 September) night for their first presidential debate, they did not offer Western allies a clear plan of how they would end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Ukraine and NATO
On Ukraine, Trump twice dodged a direct question of whether he wants to see Ukraine win the war against Russia.
Asked whether it is Ukraine that should win the war, Trump said it was in the US’ interest “to get this war finished.”
“What I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other. I’ll get them together,” Trump said, repeating he “know(s) Putin very well – said “Russia would have never ever (…) have gone into Ukraine” on his watch.
“I’ll get it done before even becoming president,” Trump said.
Trump previously had vowed to end the war “within 24 hours” when in office by negotiating with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
The Republican candidate also claimed his election would reset the geopolitical state of play and bring about a deal but offered no specifics on achieving it.
He also falsely accused Harris of having been sent to negotiate with Putin before the start of the war while she had, in fact, attended the Munich Security Conference to meet with Zelenskyy.
Harris, meanwhile, accused Trump of being willing to abandon Washington’s support for Ukraine in favour of gaining favour with Putin, endangering Western allies.
“Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv and targeting the rest of Europe, starting with Poland,” Harris said, adding Putin would “eat Trump for lunch.”
Trump recalled his push to get NATO members to increase defence spending and slammed the Biden administration for not asking the same, as Harris would “not have the courage to ask.”
Trump’s best friend in Europe
One European leader was name-dropped in the debate: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Over the past years, Trump has cultivated a close relationship with Orbán, his vocal supporter. Both leaders see eye-to-eye on Ukraine policy.
After back-and-forth on several foreign policy issues, Trump quoted Orbán in his defence.
“Orbán said it, he said, ‘The most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president,’” Trump said, indicating not all foreign leaders were criticising him.
Gaza
“We need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out,” Harris said.
However, the Biden administration has recently admitted any potential agreement, even for a ceasefire, would be far off.
Trump offered even fewer policy details, attacking Harris for “hating Israel”.
China
As both candidates also clashed on their China policies, Trump defended his recent vows to increase tariffs, including blanket duties of 10-20% on other countries and additional tariffs of 60-100% on China.
“Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world, and the tariff will be substantial,” Trump said.
Trump pointed out that the Biden administration had maintained most of his term’s tariffs on China.
Harris, meanwhile, accused Trump of having been too weak on Beijing.
“Under Trump’s presidency, he ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernise their military,” Harris said.
″[Trump] basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century,” she said.
“That requires focusing on relationships with our allies, focusing on investing in American-based technology so that we win the race, on AI, on quantum computing, focusing on what we need to do to support America’s workforce,” she added.
Read more with Euractiv
