President Trump’s former National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, dissected Trump’s second term ‘America First’ foreign policy during a one-on-one interview with The Economist geopolitics editor David Rennie.
As seen below, Bolton said “what Trump really wants, he wanted it in his first term, he wants it now, he wants to make the biggest trade deal in history, and that means a deal with China.”
Bolton added: “He doesn’t really think of the bigger political military implications, that’s not of interest to him. He’s focused on that trade deal.”
“They should be scared.” John Bolton, the former national security adviser to Donald Trump, says America’s president would sell out Taiwan for a trade deal with China.
Watch the full interview with @DSORennie, our Geopolitics editor, and see Mr Bolton dissect Mr Trump’s… pic.twitter.com/6bowKGcDBY
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 26, 2025
The country most concerned about such a deal is the democratically governed Taiwan, which China sees as its own. According to Bolton, “they should be scared” of the possibility of Trump “selling them out” in order to land a deal with China.
Bolton relayed a story about Trump sitting at the resolute desk in the Oval Office during his first term. According to Bolton, Trump held up a Sharpie and pointed to the tip of it and said, “See that? That’s Taiwan.” He then pointed to the massive resolute desk and said, “That’s China.”
Bolton added that Trump’s analysis of Taiwan’s worth is a “bad misimpression, but shows he would trade anything if need be.”
Bolton added: “Trump believes the world is what he says it is. It’s not that he lies. It’s not that he knows the difference between truth and falsehood and consciously choosing falsehood. He just makes things up. So if he gave away Taiwan in a trade negotiation, he would declare victory nonetheless.”
Note: On Friday, the Trump administration released an official National Security Strategy document which reveals that in order “to deny any attempt to seize Taiwan,” the U.S. will “build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere,” and calls for U.S. allies to “step up and spend – and more importantly do – much more for collective defense.”
Bolton had a bitter breakup with Trump after his service in the first administration, and has been highly publicly critical of the President. In August the FBI raided Bolton’s home and office, with court documents saying the purpose was discovery of “contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed.”
As a result, Bolton was indicted in October on 18 federal charges, including unlawfully retaining and transmitting classified national defense information.