Pawlenty was a lawyer and businessman before entering local politics in 1989. He won the governorship of Minnesota in 2002 and was reelected in 2006.

A firm believer in American exceptionalism, Pawlenty has staked out a clear position as an internationalist and expressed concerns about an isolationist worldview. “I don’t like the drift of the Republican Party toward what appears to be a retreat or a move more towards isolationism.” ¹ Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in June, Pawlenty said that “parts of the Republican Party now seem to be trying to outbid the Democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments. This is no time for uncertain leadership in either party. The stakes are simply too high, and the opportunity is simply too great.” ²

Pawlenty has voiced opposition to President Obama’s drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and that U.S. efforts to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power in Libya have been inadequate. Articulating a strong vision of U.S. engagement, he stated that “history repeatedly warns us that in the long run, weakness in foreign policy costs us and our children much more than we’ll ever save in a budget line item.” ³

As Governor of Minnesota, Pawlenty worked to enhance Minnesota’s international engagement and trade. He led a delegation of nearly 200 Minnesotan government, academic, civic, and business leaders on a weeklong trip to China in mid-November 2005. Pawlenty also led Minnesota trade delegations to Canada in 2003 and the Czech Republic in 2004, and went to India in October 2007. In December 2008, he led a trade mission trip to Israel. Pawlenty also made trips to Bosnia (2003) and Kosovo (2004), and in 2008, he visited Minnesotan National Guard troops stationed in Poland, Iraq and the Czech Republic.

Pawlenty on America’s Global Leadership

“Our enemies in the war on terror, just like our opponents in the Cold War, respect and respond to strength. Sometimes strength means military intervention. Sometimes it means diplomatic pressure. It always means moral clarity in word and deed. That is the legacy of Republican foreign policy at its best and the banner our next Republican president must carry around the world.” ⁴

“I believe our role around the world is, first of all, protect our national security interests as we define them; and two, as we have the opportunity to push towards democracy, push towards freedom, push towards openness.” ⁵

“In general, we need to commit our military only in those circumstances where our vital interests or our security interests are at stake and that there’s a clear plan and that we’re willing to see the plan through to success. And the rule has to be when the United States goes to war, the United States wins and this idea that we’re going to have unclear goals and subordinate our options to the United Nations and the Arab League is preposterous.” ⁶

“History repeatedly warns us that in the long run, weakness in foreign policy costs us and our children much more than we’ll ever save in a budget line item.” ⁷

“I’m not one that says we should eliminate foreign aid; I don’t think that is a wise course. Now, should we redeploy it and reprioritize it? Yes. And a good example would be two years ago the aid to Egypt, democracy-building initiatives were cut by 50 percent, as we mentioned earlier. Bad idea, and you look back on that now and you say not a good idea.” ⁸

Pawlenty on Trade

“Just as the federal government must break down barriers within our domestic markets, we must break down barriers in international markets. Congress should ratify completed free trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia and complete the agreement with Panama. We should start new bilateral talks with our trading partners to promote our exports.” ⁹

1. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57492.html#ixzz1Q0jW4OBc
2. http://www.cfr.org/us-strategy-and-politics/campaign-2012-series-conversation-tim-pawlenty/p25395
3. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/republican-rift-on-foreign-policy-widens-as-pawlenty-criticizes-isolationist-rivals/10135/
4. http://www.cfr.org/us-strategy-and-politics/campaign-2012-series-conversation-tim-pawlenty/p25395
5. http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/exclusive-pawlenty-calls-white-house-response-cairo-crisis/story?id=12905602&page=2
6. http://okhenderson.com/2011/04/01/pawlenty-on-tiger-blood-incoherent-obama-foreign-policy-audio/
7. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/pawlenty-stakes-out-his-foreign-policy-ground/
8. http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/exclusive-pawlenty-calls-white-house-response-cairo-crisis/story?id=12905602&page=2
9. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/06/07/text-of-pawlentys-speech-on-his-economic-plan/