FP Live: Inside the GOP’s Foreign Policy

Inside the GOP’s Foreign Policy

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What would a second Trump term mean for U.S. foreign policy? Who has the former president’s ear on world affairs?

FP columnist Matthew Kroenig has given these questions a lot of thought in his new book, We Win, They Lose: Republican Foreign Policy & the New Cold War, co-written with Dan Negrea and with a foreword from former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Kroenig joined FP Live to elaborate on the book’s thesis while opening up his notebook to discuss which policymakers currently animate former President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy thinking.

Foreign Policy columnist Matthew Kroenig tells FP’s Ravi Agrawal that the U.S. Republican Party’s foreign policy is united under a “Trump-Reagan fusion.”

Kroenig rejects the idea that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is isolationist, contending that in his first term, he actually strengthened U.S. alliances.

Kroenig argues that the United States can constrain China’s ability to “threaten America’s vital interests” without risking economic engagement.

Kroenig explains what Trump’s foreign-policy agenda would be if he were to be elected to a second term.

A Trump 2.0 presidency would take place in “the most dangerous international security environment … since the end of the Cold War.” Kroenig tells Agrawal what his potential concerns would be.

Matthew Kroenig

Columnist, Foreign Policy

Matthew Kroenig is a columnist at Foreign Policy, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and a professor in the government department and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His latest book is We Win, They Lose: Republican Foreign Policy & the New Cold War.

Host of FP Live

Ravi Agrawal

Editor in chief, Foreign Policy

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy.

Related

Does Trump Have a Foreign-Policy Vision?

A new book lays claim to interpreting the former president’s global legacy—and has a plan for what a second term could accomplish.

Q&A | Ravi Agrawal

Republicans Are More United on Foreign Policy Than It Seems

Squabbles over Ukraine aid obscure broader consensus among the party’s two major wings.

Argument | Matthew Kroenig, Dan Negrea

Another Trump Presidency Won’t Much Change U.S. Foreign Policy

The world’s fears are mostly exaggerated.

Argument | Stephen M. Walt

The Scrambled Spectrum of U.S. Foreign-Policy Thinking

Presidents, officials, and candidates tend to fall into six camps that don’t follow party lines.

Analysis | Ash Jain

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Decoding Trump’s Foreign-Policy Plans

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On-Demand from FP Live

How Platon Photographs Power

Whether you know it or not, you’ve seen the work of portrait photographer Platon. Gracing magazine covers and protest signs, his photos of world leaders and cultural icons capture the truth behind the cliche “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Platon sits down with FP’s Ravi Agrawal to describe what drives his art and how he connects with his subjects, no matter how powerful they may be.

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Aspen Security Forum: The View From Singapore

Few countries in the world are as adept at interpreting China’s foreign policy as Singapore. At this year’s Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, FP’s Ravi Agrawal sat down with Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen. The two discussed the U.S.-China relationship as well as American soft power in Southeast Asia.

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Is Canada Free-Riding on Defense?

World leaders are congregating in Washington for the annual NATO summit. Amid Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, most NATO members are upping their defense spending to a minimum of 2 percent of their respective GDPs. Canada is increasingly seen as lagging behind. FP’s Ravi Agrawal asked Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair about his nation’s spending.

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How to Defend Europe

Ahead of the NATO summit that begins on July 9, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will join FP Live to discuss the war in Ukraine, the future of Europe, and the continent’s alliance with the United States. Sikorski also contributed to FP’s latest issue, which will address the issue at the heart of this conversation: Can Europe fend for itself?

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