Issue Position: Strong Alliances

Issue Position

Full security requires that we have strong alliances and partnerships abroad and that we lead on the world stage.

Contrary to what Mr. Trump implies, our alliances are not charity toward other countries. They are something we do for our own security. By reviving our leadership, we are not only making our country safer, but we're making our country more prosperous.

Nothing demonstrates that more than NATO, history's most successful military alliance. It is shameful that Mr. Trump threatened our commitment to NATO, and repeatedly left our allies in the lurch, such as with his declaration of unilateral withdrawal from Syria. His abandonment of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty also leaves Europe at risk, with no successor plan to control these nuclear weapons. As president, Hickenlooper will make clear the US stands resolutely by our decades-old commitment to treat an attack against any of our NATO allies as an attack against all of us.

As president, Hickenlooper will revive arms control discussions with both Russia and China, to increase our security and that of our allies, and to limit the looming costs of modernization of our nuclear forces.

As a start, Hickenlooper has called on Mr. Trump to extend the New START agreement with Russia, which limits strategic nuclear weapons, so it does not lapse in February 2021. He will seek new arrangements with Russia and with China, to address short- and medium-range weapons, all of which fall outside the parameters of New START.

Hickenlooper will work with our allies in East Asia to defuse tensions China has provoked over islands and navigation, and to ensure we have a full, coordinated strategy to stop North Korea's ballistic nuclear program -- not based on flattery, but on strong deterrence, verifiable agreements, and robust inspections.

He will also work closely with the states of the Western Hemisphere, on challenges from stemming the drug trade, to ensuring a democratic Venezuela.

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