U.S. Foreign Policy Archive

After the United States and China signed their “phase one” trade deal in mid-January, it seemed that the European Union might be the next target in President Donald Trump’s trade wars. At the time, the White House was threatening to increase tariffs amid the ongoing dispute over EU subsidies to Airbus and impose new tariffs over France’s proposed tax on digital service providers, while still holding out the possibility of tariffs on more than $40 billion in automobile imports from Europe. Since then, the Trump administration has held its fire in those disputes, and the prospects for a bilateral trade […]

In what has been called a “protection racket” and a “blatant shakedown,” President Donald Trump is again pressuring South Korea to increase its contribution to the costs of maintaining U.S. military bases in the country. The mafia-esque terminology employed by commentators seems apt given Trump’s shocking initial demand for a fivefold increase in Seoul’s share of American basing costs, from around $900 million per year to nearly $5 billion. While U.S. negotiators have reportedly climbed down from that position, the two sides have yet to find common ground after six rounds of negotiations, heightening fears of a lasting standoff that […]

If there is one good foreign policy decision Congress has made over any other in the past 20 years, it is arguably its investment in building up the U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM. All but shutting down AFRICOM, which the Trump administration is considering, would be one of the worst decisions it could make this year, although it’s a crowded field. Which is why it was heartening when reports surfaced this week that those mooted Pentagon plans are meeting with strong headwinds in Congress. As always with the Trump White House, it’s anyone’s guess whether logic will ultimately prevail or […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Judah Grunstein and Freddy Deknatel talk about U.S. President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to India, and why his camaraderie with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not been enough to overcome tensions between the world’s two biggest democracies. They also discuss the historical roots of India’s reluctance to join a U.S.-led coalition to contain China, even as defense cooperation between New Delhi and Washington has expanded over the past decade. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our […]

Is Washington ready to embrace restraint as the guiding principle of U.S. foreign policy? Several recent developments suggest that at least when it comes to some prominent debates over national security, the answer is a guarded yes. Last week, the Senate passed a bipartisan war powers resolution prohibiting the White House from going to war with Iran without congressional approval. The White House also reportedly signed off on a tentative deal with the Taliban last week to begin ending U.S. military involvement in the war in Afghanistan. Advocates of restraint should still hold off on any victory laps just yet. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. When China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters from the country this week, it justified the move as a response to an op-ed in the Journal that Beijing deemed racist. But the day before the journalists’ press credentials were revoked, the State Department placed new restrictions on the activities of Chinese state media outlets in the United States. Under the surface of this apparent tit-for-tat is a growing unease in Washington over the lack of reciprocity in the U.S.-China […]

Across Africa and beyond it, there is widespread agreement among governments and policymakers that economic integration would give a critical boost to growth and development on the continent. Yet when he visited Washington earlier this month, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, pledged alongside President Donald Trump to launch negotiations toward a bilateral trade deal. The two leaders’ motivations are likely quite different, and the odds of a successful negotiation are uncertain at best. But, like the European Union’s own ad hoc trade deals throughout Africa, a U.S.-Kenya free trade pact would create new barriers to intra-African trade, rather than reducing them, […]

By all accounts, the U.S. and the Taliban are poised to sign the initial stage of a peace deal in Afghanistan, and it may only be a matter of weeks before President Donald Trump takes the first serious step toward ending America’s longest war. But can a White House this mercurial really usher in a sustainable political settlement in Afghanistan? The short answer is no. Under the right circumstances, however, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his administration may be able to get the job done. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that Trump has signaled his approval for […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Judah Grunstein and Freddy Deknatel talk about debates over U.S. foreign policy in the context of the 2020 presidential election, particularly the emerging consensus in favor of a strategy of restraint. But how closely does the political embrace of ending America’s “forever wars” and avoiding costly new ones resemble the vision of restraint promoted by its policy-minded advocates? And how easy will it be for the next president to follow through on promises of restraint once in office? If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read […]

One of the most contentious elements of the U.S.-China relationship today is over the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and its outsized role in the development of next-generation 5G telecommunications infrastructure around the world. The Trump administration argues that Huawei’s close ties to the Chinese government make it a national security risk. Last summer, the Commerce Department added Huawei to a blacklist that prevents American companies from doing business with it, although it has subsequently granted some limited reprieves. U.S. officials have urged other countries to avoid Huawei as well, but in a blow to those efforts, the United Kingdom recently […]

The Trump administration provoked another international outcry when it announced late last month that it was adding six new countries to its list of nations that face broad travel restrictions to the United States: Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania. The expansion of the travel ban, which President Donald Trump first issued as an executive order just days after his inauguration in January 2017, will take effect on Feb. 22. The inclusion of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and its largest economy, generated immediate outrage among many observers. But the reaction from the Nigerian government was more muted than […]

A robust economy, the turmoil of the Iowa caucuses and President Donald Trump’s strong poll numbers in the wake of his acquittal in his impeachment trial have lengthened the odds than any Democratic rival will beat him at the ballot box in November. Yet should one of them pull off this audacious feat, the new president will face another colossal challenge: reviving the liberal international order that Trump has done so much to disparage and dismantle. How will he or she do that? Start by reconsolidating the West, giving globalization a human face and bolstering support for democracy and human […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Judah Grunstein and Freddy Deknatel talk about the political and economic impact of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, and the challenge of addressing transnational threats at a time when securing borders has become such a hot-button issue around the world. They also discuss the implications of President Donald Trump’s impeachment and Senate acquittal for America’s democracy-promotion credentials abroad. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The […]

These are heady days for U.S. President Donald Trump. Secure in the knowledge he will survive impeachment, Trump is also coming off a string of what he can and does depict as foreign policy successes. Closer inspection reveals these “successes” to be mixed bags at best and little more than hot air at worst. His trade war with China produced a “phase one” deal that leaves most of the underlying tensions unresolved, with any potential gains remaining hypothetical. And so far, his so-called maximum pressure campaigns against North Korea, Iran and Venezuela are 0-for-3 when it comes to concrete strategic […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. China this week accused the United States of fomenting public hysteria over the Wuhan coronavirus, after the Trump administration banned recent travelers from China and warned U.S. citizens to avoid traveling there. The two countries have so far managed to share information on countering the outbreak despite political tensions in their relationship, but America’s sweeping travel restrictions could hamper that cooperation. As of Wednesday, fatalities from the epidemic had risen to nearly 500, the vast majority of which were […]

In a month spent celebrating supposed trade triumphs, the White House quietly conceded that some of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, on imports of steel and aluminum, were in fact failing to achieve their stated aim of boosting American production. But instead of rolling the tariffs back, Trump issued new ones. Late on a recent Friday night, a time when all presidents try to bury bad news, the White House released a proclamation in which Trump ordered new tariffs on nails, wire, car bumpers and certain other metal-based products because increased imports of those “derivative” products were “undermin[ing] the purpose” of […]