Foreign Policy Live

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

Trump’s election can be interpreted as a change election, signaling the rejection of things as they were. But what does all this change mean for the world? How are countries and companies navigating new geopolitical risks with Trump’s win? In a bonus episode, FP’s Ravi Agrawal puts these questions to the world’s foremost geopolitical risk expert, Ian Bremmer. He’s also the president and founder of Eurasia Group, as well as GZERO Media.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Ian Bremmer: The Global Credibility Gap Ian Bremmer: The Next Global Superpower Isn’t Who You Think Carl Bildt: Trump’s Dealmaking Record Could Be Bad News for Ukraine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is moving rapidly to nominate loyalists to key administration positions. How much do these choices matter? And what do his personnel choices mean for our assessments of his foreign policy? Conservative scholar Kori Schake sits down with Ravi Agrawal to share what we might expect from a second Trump term. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Transcript: How Much Do Trump’s Personnel Choices Matter? FP Staff: Trump’s Foreign-Policy Influencers Stephen M. Walt: The 10 Foreign-Policy Implications of the 2024 U.S. Election Kori Schake: North Korea Joining Russia’s War Is a Sign of Weakness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What was supposed to be one of the closest elections in history ended early Wednesday morning with a decisive victory for former U.S. President Donald Trump. The election took place against a backdrop of a particularly divided and polarized electorate. Does history have any precedents or lessons for the current moment?  Join FP’s Ravi Agrawal in conversation with historians Julian E. Zelizer and Joanne Freeman. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): FP Staff: What Trump’s Win Means for U.S. Foreign Policy Julian E. Zelizer: When Did Democrats Lose the Working Class? Michael Hirsh: Why She Lost Barbara F. Walter: Could Civil War Erupt in America? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As China’s influence grows in Asia and around the world, how will the next U.S. president manage Washington’s most important relationship? And beyond China, how do Donald Trump and Kamala Harris compare in their approach toward other Asian countries? In the fifth and final episode of a special election series, FP’s Ravi Agrawal speaks with Ryan Hass and Lynn Kuok.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Lili Pike: How Does the U.S.-China ‘Cold War’ End? Agathe Demarais: Why China Is Rooting for Trump Derek Grossman: The Once Wobbly Quad Is Here to Stay Sumit Ganguly and Dinsha Mistree: Modi’s Third-Term Foreign Policy Looks the Same Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judging by the way Latin America is discussed in the U.S. presidential elections, Americans view the continent mostly in negative terms: as the source of unwanted immigration and drug cartels. But the reality is obviously more complex. The region includes America’s largest trading partner—Mexico—and it is an arena for intense geopolitical competition. In the fourth episode of FP Live’s special election series, host Ravi Agrawal asks Moisés Naím, a former Venezuelan minister of trade and industry, and Catherine Osborn, the writer of FP’s Latin America Brief, how Trump and Harris differ on policy.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Catherine Osborn: How Migration Became a U.S. Foreign-Policy Priority Connor Pfeiffer and Ryan C. Berg: Mexico and the United States Need to Talk About China Now Oliver Stuenkel: Trump Has His Own Monroe Doctrine Geoff Ramsey and Jason Marczak: What’s Next for U.S. Policy in Venezuela? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Africa has been neglected by recent administrations; the last presidential visit was in 2015, though President Joe Biden will be making a trip to Angola in December. How will the next president handle this large and diverse continent? FP’s Ravi Agrawal is joined by two Africa experts—Martin Kimani and Zainab Usman—on the third installment of FP Live’s special election series.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Martin Kimani: How to Restore the American Center Henry Tugendhat: The U.S. Has a Better Offer for Africa Than Debt Christina Lu: Washington Wants to Revive a Critical Minerals Mega-Railway Through Africa Chris Murphy: Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Protests Are a Wake-Up Call for Washington Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Among foreign policy issues, how the United States should approach its relationship with Europe might be the one on which presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris disagree most. To find out why, hear Nathalie Tocci, the director of Rome’s Istituto Affari Internazionali, and Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, on the second episode of FP Live’s special election series. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): A. Wess Mitchell and Jakub Grygiel: U.S. Strategy Should Be Europe First, Then Asia Hal Brands: Trump’s Return Would Transform Europe FP Contributors: Europe Alone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every day this week, FP Live will have a new episode focused on a different part of the world and how presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would tailor their foreign policies for those regions. In this episode, host Ravi Agrawal looks at the Middle East and speaks with experts Steven A. Cook and Sanam Vakil.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Steven A. Cook: Why Americans and Israelis Don’t See Eye to Eye on Iran Talal Mohammad: Why the Gulf States Are Likely Backing Trump Rishi Iyengar: Why Everyone’s Suddenly Talking About Iranian Election Hacking Arash Reisinezhad: Iran’s Israel Strategy Has Already Changed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, a regular Israeli patrol in southern Gaza chanced upon the person they had been hunting for more than a year: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. His death raised some big questions: How much of a blow would this be for Hamas? What would it mean for Israel’s strategy? This week’s guest has thought a lot about all of these questions. Gen. David Petraeus led U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan at the height of counterterrorism efforts there. Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): FP Live: David Petraeus on a World at War FP Live Transcript: David Petraeus: Why 9/11 Is a Cautionary Tale for Israel Steven A. Cook: Sinwar Is Dead. Hamas Is Very Much Alive. Daniel Byman: Israel’s Killing of Yahya Sinwar Is Not a Turning Point Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices