特朗普政府的对外战略思想最直接地体现在2017年底以来白宫和美国国防部发布的《美国国家安全战略》《国防战略报告》《核态势评估报告》《导弹防御评估报告》等文件中。在这些对外战略思想指导下，在一些突出而且重要的议题上，2018年美国外交取得了一些进展，但也面临着挑战。评判过去一年的美国外交或展望未来美国外交需要特别注意“美国优先”与“全球领导地位”的关系、“大国竞争回归”对未来国家间关系的影响、意识形态在美国外交中的作用以及特朗普政府的外交风格对美国外交的影响等问题。
The Trump administration’s diplomatic strategy has been expounded in the 2017 National Security Strategy of the United States of America，the 2018 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America，the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review and the 2019 Missile Defense Review. The U.S.has won some progresses on several urgent and important diplomatic and security issues in 2018，but still faces critical challenges. To properly evaluate the U.S.diplomacy in 2018 or make a forecast on future U.S.diplomacy，more attention should be paid on the correlation between “America First” and the so-called global leadership，the return of great power competition and its impact on the relationship among great powers，the role of ideology in U.S.diplomacy，and the Trump administration’s diplomatic style and its impact on U.S.diplomacy.
