Foreign Policy Live

Geopolitical risk analyst Ian Bremmer joins FP Live to assess U.S. President Donald Trump’s first 50 days in office and how it is impacting the world. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Ushering In a More Transactional World Daniel C. Kurtzer and Aaron David Miller: Lessons from the Trump-Zelensky Confrontation Howard W. French: Trump’s Plan for a Greatly Diminished America Daniel W. Drezner: Does the Madman Theory Actually Work? Stephen M. Walt: What I Got Wrong About Trump’s Second Term Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With so much of the focus in recent weeks on the Trump administration’s policies toward Europe, where does that leave the broader trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship? Expert and former Biden administration official Rush Doshi sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss. Doshi is currently the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Rush Doshi: Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order Lili Pike: Trump’s Europe Shock Creates an Opening for China Lili Pike: Did Biden Get China Right? James Crabtree: Trump Could Make China Great Again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don’t give up on Trump. I do think that, for the wrong reasons, we can get him to do the right things” says former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth. Roth sits down with Ravi Agrawal to share his take on human rights today amid democratic backsliding, ongoing conflict, and a new U.S. administration on the world stage. Roth led Human Rights Watch for nearly 30 years and is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Transcript: Can the World Do Anything About Conflict in 2025? Pankaj Mishra: How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology Matthew M. Kavanagh and Luis Gil Abinader: Abolishing USAID Is Both Unconstitutional and Disastrous Brought to you by: https://incogni.com/foreignpolicy. Use promo code "foreignpolicy" to get an exclusive 60% off an annual plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finnish President Alexander Stubb sits down with Ravi Agrawal on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference to discuss European security in Trump 2.0. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Transcript: Finland’s President: Trump’s Strategy ‘Is a Bit of a Seesaw’ Transcript: The Speech That Stunned Europe C. Raja Mohan: India Sees Opportunities as Trump Jettisons the Western Order James Crabtree: Trump Could Make China Great Again Kishore Mahbubani: It’s Time for Europe to Do the Unthinkable Kristi Raik: Europe’s 4 Different Ways of Handling Trump Bojan Pancevski and Alexander Ward: Vance Wields Threat of Sanctions, Military Action to Push Putin Into Ukraine Deal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How history will weigh the war in Gaza, with author Pankaj Mishra. Mishra recently previewed his new book on the subject with Foreign Policy, in a piece titled “How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology.” He shares more now with Ravi Agrawal. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Pankaj Mishra: The World After Gaza: A History Pankaj Mishra: How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology David E. Rosenberg: Why Gaza Is Israel’s Forever War Ran Greenstein: Settler Colonialism Isn’t What You Think It Is Howard W. French: Why Are We Ignoring Human Rights Criticism of Israel? FP Contributors: What Trump’s Gaza Plan Means for the World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term with rapid-fire proposals ranging from invading Greenland to imposing tariffs on top trading partners. How are these moves being viewed globally? FP Live host Ravi Agrawal is joined by three experts, spanning three continents, to learn more. Nathalie Tocci serves as the director of the Italian think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali. Former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani is an author and geopolitical analyst. And Ed Luce is a columnist for the Financial Times. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Ravi Agrawal: Trump is Ushering In a More Transactional World Emma Ashford and Jennifer Kavanagh: Europe Isn’t Ready for Trump 2.0 Matthew M. Kavanagh and Luis Gil Abinader: Abolishing USAID Is Both Unconstitutional And Disastrous Stephen M. Walt: What IR Theory Predicts About Trump 2.0 Edward Alden: Trump Will Be His Own Trade Czar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, the Trump administration maintained that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1. This comes after announcing a 10 percent duty on China earlier in the week. Trade and capital expert Brad Setser is skeptical that it will follow through, though, saying that the economic ramifications of tariffs at that scale would be a “ pretty bloody big shock.” Setser sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to share more. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Aaron L. Friedberg: Tariffs Are a Scalpel, Not a Hammer Wendy Cutler: How Trump Could Strike a Trade Deal With China Keith Johnson: How to Read Trump’s Day-One Trade Actions Scott Kennedy: Markets Are Underpricing the Possibility of a U.S.-China Economic War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FP Live host Ravi Agrawal kicked off a lively discussion on the new frontiers of cybersecurity at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was joined by panelists Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation; Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare; Andrius Kubilius, European commissioner for defense and space; Joe Kaeser, chairman of Siemens Energy’s supervisory board; and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Minxin Pei: China’s Secret to Controlling the Internet Rishi Iyengar: North Korea Does More Cyberspying Than You Think Dmytro Kuleba: The Fight For Ukraine Is Forging a New World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Immigration was a top issue among voters in the 2024 U.S. election, with President-elect Donald Trump calling for the “largest deportation operation in American history.” And with the incoming administration expected to take action as soon as Trump returns to office, what are the possible ramifications of this policy? Edward Alden, author of the recent book When the World Closed its Doors: The COVID-19 Tragedy and the Future of Borders, joins host Ravi Agrawal to share his insights. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Transcript: Will Trump Actually Deport Millions of Undocumented Workers Edward Alden: When the World Closed Its Doors Edward Alden: The Great Deportation of 2025 Howard W. French: The U.S. Can’t Afford to Be a Bad Neighbor Christina Lu: What Trump’s Mass Deportations Would Mean for the U.S. Economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FP Live is joined by Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, as she details the 2025 edition of “10 Conflicts to Watch.” From Sudan to Myanmar, Haiti, Ukraine, Iran, and beyond, why is the world facing so many crises at once, and how can it solve them? Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood: 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2025 Aaron David Miller and Lauren Morganbesser: Why the Gulf States Might Feature Prominently in Trump’s Foreign Policy Raphael S. Cohen: China and North Korea Throw U.S. War Plans Out the Window Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pundits love calling President-elect Trump’s leadership “transactional.” But is that true? FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal shares his take in this audio essay from the upcoming print issue of Foreign Policy’s magazine. Take a listen. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Kori Schake: Why Biden’s Foreign Policy Fell Short Raghuram Rajan: Isolationism Won’t Make Anyone Great Again Adam Tooze: America Is Locked in a New Class War Daniel W. Drezner: Does the Madman Theory Actually Work? Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Ushering In a More Transactional World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and the author of Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to look ahead to 2025.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):  Fareed Zakaria Looks Back at 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National security analyst and former Trump administration official Elbridge Colby joined FP Live earlier this year to share his take on what a second Trump term could mean for foreign policy. He was recently tapped to be the under secretary of defense for policy in the incoming administration. As such, he will be an integral part of Trump’s decision-making—making this episode newly relevant.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Transcript: Decoding Trump’s Foreign Policy Elbridge Colby, Mackenzie Eaglen, and Roger Zakheim: How to Trim the Defense Budget Without Harming U.S. Security (2020) Elbridge Colby and David Ochmanek: How the United States Could Lose a Great-Power War (2019) Elbridge Colby: How to Win America’s Next War (2019) FP Staff: The Trump Transition Begins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year closed out with ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, and numerous incumbents forced out after a record year of elections around the world. Fareed Zakaria, author of Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, joins FP Live to reflect on the year and share his insights on what these trends could mean for our liberal global world order. Zakaria is also the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):  Transcript: The End of Left Versus Right Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Top humanitarian aid official and longtime diplomat Samantha Power discusses lessons learned from her post at USAID and what she’d like to share with the next administration in this bonus episode. This conversation was taped before the passage of last week's Continuing Resolution. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Walter Kerr and Amanda Arch: U.S. Foreign Aid Is Broken but Fixable  Agathe Demarais: Aid Is the Next Battleground Between China and the West Laura Thornton: How a Second Trump Term Will Redefine Foreign Aid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The incoming Trump administration is expected to gut a key piece of President Biden’s climate legacy: the Inflation Reduction Act. How will rolling this law back shape energy policy in the future? And what does this mean for the Paris Climate Accords? The Biden administration’s top climate diplomat, John Podesta, joins FP Live to discuss.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):       Transcript: Will Trump Dismantle Biden’s Clean Energy Initiative Cameron Abadi and Adam Tooze: The Complicated Legacy of Biden’s Climate Legislation Tim Hirschel-Burns: On Climate, Paying Now Is Cheaper Than Paying Later Jason Bordoff and David R. Hill: The Key to a Successful Trump Energy Agenda Is Electricity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inside a nontraditional war: the chip wars. Can Trump’s tariffs stop China’s efforts to catch up on semiconductor production? How will the AI boom change the game? The leading expert on semiconductor competition, Chris Miller, joins FP Live to discuss the state of the tech race and the impact of a second Trump administration.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Rishi Iyengar: Everyone Wants a Chip Factory Chris Miller: Biden Opens Sneaky New Front in Trade War Against China Vivek Chilukuri: America Needs Clear Standards for China Tech Decoupling Chris Miller in the Financial Times: The global chip war could turn into a cloud war Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most Middle East watchers, the big news last week was that after nearly 14 months of war, Israel and Hezbollah signed a cease-fire agreement. But before the ink on that agreement was dry, another big shift was afoot: Rebel groups in Syria took control of the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, in less than four days of battle. Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges joins FP Live to discuss the regional and global implications. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Jeremy Hodge and Hussein Nasser: A Weak Assad Benefits Turkey—and Is a Headache for Trump Hamidreza Azizi and Nicole Grajewski: What the Fall of Aleppo Means for Russia The Guardian: One year on from 7 October, our panel considers: what next for the Middle East? Nathan J. Robinson: Biden Didn’t Really Try to End the War in Gaza Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The global target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius looks increasingly unlikely. What approaches to solving the climate crisis can best provide solutions? FP deputy editor Cameron Abadi joins FP Live to debut his new book: Climate Radicals: Why Our Environmental Politics Isn’t Working, which compares the policies of Germany and the United States. He shares what he has learned with Ravi Agrawal. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Cameron Abadi and Adam Tooze: Is Climate Activism Working? Christina Lu: COP29 Kicks Off Under Trump’s Shadow Cameron Abadi: Hard Truths Come for Germany’s Climate Prophet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is the self-proclaimed “tariff man.” On the campaign trail, he talked about tariffs of 20 percent on goods from most countries and 60 percent on those from China. Now, tariffs have trade-offs, especially domestically. To break it down, Ravi Agrawal is joined by a conservative economist who has long made the case for tariffs: Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Matthew Kroenig: Why the World Should Stop Worrying About a Second Trump Term Keith Johnson: Everything You Wanted to Know About Trump’s Tariffs But Were Afraid to Ask Transcript: Economist Adam Posen on How Trump and Harris Differ on Economic Policy Transcript: Biden Advisor Heather Boushey on Whether Bidenomics Is Trying to Do Too Much Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices