--- title: NATO Isn’t Only Thing Donald Trump Changed His Mind About description: President Donald Trump reversed course on several policy matters this week, from the status of the Federal Reserve Chairwoman to NATO canonical: https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-12T22:41:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:22:37.668Z article:section: Politics og:title: Everything President Trump Changed His Mind About This Week og:description: A look at Trump's recent wavering on important issues og:url: https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f4a65ac51ddd27/6988c26b0b72e35ae66ed4d6/trump_nato.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2017. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everything President Trump Changed His Mind About This Week twitter:description: A look at Trump's recent wavering on important issues twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f4a65ac51ddd27/6988c26b0b72e35ae66ed4d6/trump_nato.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NATO Isn’t the Only Thing President Trump Changed His Mind About This Week  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 12, 2017 10:41 PM UTC  President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2017. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2017.Olivier Douliery—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 12, 2017 10:41 PM UTC President Donald Trump reversed course on several policy matters this week, from the status of the Federal Reserve Chairwoman to whether he believes China is a [currency manipulator.](http://time.com/3994812/china-currency-devalution/) Here’s a look at exactly how the President changed his views on these major issues. ### Janet Yellen Can Stay (Maybe) Trump told [the Wall Street _Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-dollar-getting-too-strong-wont-label-china-currency-manipulator-1492024312) Wednesday that he is still figuring out whether to retain Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen after her term is up in 2018\. “I like her, I respect her,” Trump said of Yellen. “It’s very early.” He did note his appreciation for low interest rates (in March, the Federal Reserve[ raised interest rates](http://fortune.com/2017/03/15/yellen-federal-reserve-interest-rates/) for just the third time since the 2008 financial crisis). But when explicitly asked if she would be “toast,” Trump responded, “no, not toast.” During the campaign, Trump criticized Yellen. [In an interview with CNBC ](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/12/trump-says-fed-chief-yellen-should-be-ashamed.html)in September 2016, Trump said Yellen was purposely keeping interest rates low and should be “ashamed” of what she’s doing to the country. ### China Is No Longer a Currency Manipulator Trump will no longer label China a currency manipulator because it could impede talks with the country about North Korea. “They’re not currency manipulators,” Trump told the [_Journal._](https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-dollar-getting-too-strong-wont-label-china-currency-manipulator-1492024312) But criticizing China for currency manipulation was a frequent topic for Trump on the [campaign trail,](http://time.com/4673085/donald-trump-campaign-trail-2020-event/) where he referred to the country as “abusers” and said he would label them a currency manipulator. “China just devalued their currency recently more than they have at any time in more than two decades,” he [told Anderson Cooper](http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1603/09/acd.01.html) in March 2016\. “This was like shocking. And the only reason they did it is because we’re weak and have no leadership.” While his comments about [China](http://time.com/4737001/donald-trump-xi-jinping-phone-call-readout/) got more attention when he voiced them as a candidate, they date back to years before he officially mounted a presidential run. “Once again Obama fails to classify China as a currency manipulator,” Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/257936201057705984) in October 2012\. “He just helped China steal even more jobs and money from us.” ### **NATO Isn’t Obsolete** Trump [praised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization](http://time.com/4737255/donald-trump-nato-obsolete-jens-stolenberg/) Wednesday in joint remarks he made with the organization’s secretary, General Jens Stoltenberg. “The NATO Alliance has been the bulwark of international peace and security,” Trump said from the East Room of the White House. “I said it was obsolete; it’s no longer obsolete. It’s my hope that NATO will take on an increased role in supporting our Iraqi partners in their battle against ISIS.” Trump did lament in his remarks that certain nations in NATO aren’t paying their financial dues, rhetoric that is consistent from his time on the trail. But as Trump acknowledged in his remarks, this is a complete 180 from his stance during the campaign. [**READ MORE:**](http://time.com/4417431/donald-trump-nato-torpedoes-peace-through-strength/?iid=sr-link6) Donald Trump Torpedoes ‘Peace Through Strength’ ### The Export-Import Bank Might Be Good Trump reflected on the possible benefits of the [export-import bank](http://time.com/4086863/export-import-bank/) on Wednesday. “Instinctively, you would say, ‘Isn’t that a ridiculous thing,’ ” Trump told the Wall Street Journal of the bank. “But actually, it’s a very good thing. And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money.” He had previously said pretty much the opposite. “It’s sort of a featherbedding for politicians and others, and a few companies,” he said in the [summer of 2015\. ](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-04/trump-the-developer-loves-low-interest-rates-trump-the-candidate-sees-a-bubble-)“And these are companies that can do very well without it. So I don’t like it. I think it’s a lot of excess baggage.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/"},"headline":"NATO Isn’t the Only Thing President Trump Changed His Mind About This Week","datePublished":"2017-04-12T22:41:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:22:37.668Z","description":"President Donald Trump reversed course on several policy matters this week, from the status of the Federal Reserve Chairwoman to NATO","url":"https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f4a65ac51ddd27/6988c26b0b72e35ae66ed4d6/trump_nato.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f4a65ac51ddd27/6988c26b0b72e35ae66ed4d6/trump_nato.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2017.","caption":"President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2017.","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Bloomberg/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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4737375/donald-trump-nato-china-currency-import-export-bank-janet-yellen/","name":"NATO Isn’t the Only Thing President Trump Changed His Mind About This Week"}}]}] ```