--- title: Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague description: In a lengthy interview published on Saturday, Donald Trump explained why he has avoided being too specific about his foreign policy approach canonical: https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-26T20:30:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:14:48.392Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague og:description: "I don’t want to say what I’d do because, again, we need unpredictability." og:url: https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0567b12d38a4ee8/69888ca7cd1bbaaee06ffff5/donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: religion-diplomacy-politics og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague twitter:description: "I don’t want to say what I’d do because, again, we need unpredictability." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0567b12d38a4ee8/69888ca7cd1bbaaee06ffff5/donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 26, 2016 8:30 PM CUT  Republican US presidential hopeful Donald Trump addresses the 2016 American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference at the Verizon Center on March 21 in Washington, D.C. Republican US presidential hopeful Donald Trump addresses the 2016 American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference at the Verizon Center on March 21 in Washington, D.C.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 26, 2016 8:30 PM CUT In a lengthy [interview published on Saturday](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur "undefined"), Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he has avoided being too specific about his foreign policy views because he “wouldn’t want \[adversaries\] to know what my real thinking is.” In the 100-minute interview about foreign policy, conducted by the New York _Times_ on Friday, Trump answered questions about using nuclear weapons, defeating ISIS and the problems with NATO. Asked how he would handle [tensions in the South China Sea](http://time.com/4236409/united-states-china-south-china-sea/ "undefined"), Trump said he would use better trade deals to negotiate with China—something he has routinely [promised to do](http://time.com/4255900/donald-trump-trade-tariffs/ "undefined") during his campaign—but he declined to be more specific about his strategy. “Would I go to war? Look, let me just tell you. There’s a question I wouldn’t want to answer,” Trump said. “I don’t want to say what I’d do because, again, we need unpredictability. You know, if I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’ve said I would or I wouldn’t. I don’t want them to know what I’m thinking.” “The problem we have is that, maybe because it’s a democracy and maybe because we have to be so open – maybe because you have to say what you have to say in order to get elected – who knows?” he continued. “But I wouldn’t want to say. I wouldn’t want them to know what my real thinking is. But I will tell you this. This is the one aspect I can tell you. I would use trade, absolutely, as a bargaining chip.” Trump has been targeted in recent weeks by [opponents criticizing him](http://time.com/4265956/hillary-clinton-aipac-donald-trump-foreign-policy/ "undefined") for a lack of foreign policy expertise. [Read the complete interview transcript on The New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague","datePublished":"2016-03-26T20:30:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:14:48.392Z","description":"\"I don’t want them to know what I’m thinking\"","url":"https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0567b12d38a4ee8/69888ca7cd1bbaaee06ffff5/donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0567b12d38a4ee8/69888ca7cd1bbaaee06ffff5/donald-trump-foreign-policy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"religion-diplomacy-politics","caption":"religion-diplomacy-politics","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4273054/donald-trump-specific-foreign-policy/","name":"Donald Trump Explains Why His Foreign Policy Is So Vague"}}]}] ```