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Abstract “America First”, initiated by the Trump administration, caters to the world view and interests of the victims in the process of globalization, especially the US white blue-collar workers. “America First” aims to make America great again as a nation-state. Domestically, the Trump administration aims to bring back manufacturing, strengthen the border control, and restore other main functions of the nation-state impaired by globalization. Internationally, it overhauls the international economic institutions in favor of the US interests and readjusts its alliance system for the purpose of countering “revisionist super powers”, “rogue states” and “transnational threat groups”. Accordingly, the Trump administration has also started to readjust the US-ROK alliance in an utilitarian manner. As for institutions readjustment, the Trump administration urges the ROK to revise “KORUS FTA ” and increase defense spending. To counter the challenges brought by the international actors, the ROK is also urged to join “Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy” to constrain the rise of China and be in line with the US “Maximum Pressure” policy toward the DPRK to pressure the latter to denuclearize. In general, the Trump administration has achieved most of its objectives on the US-ROK alliance readjustment, thereby using it as a bargaining chip to pressure future negotiating counterparts to make more concessions. Meanwhile, it increases the asymmetric relations between the two countries, undermines the moral basis of the US-ROK alliance and exposes the divergent visions of the two countries on the future bilateral relations.
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