Trump’s Job No. 1: Recoup the Jobs, Wages and Security Lost to Trade Deals
President-elect Trump’s choice of Robert Lighthizer as his special trade representative, announced Tuesday afternoon, completes the first string of the new administration’s trade team. So it’s time to draw a couple of clear conclusions. Conclusion No. 1: Trump is a…
Can Trump Clean Up the Mess Obama Made of Asia Policy?
Donald Trump has Beijing’s attention now that he questions the “One China” policy on Taiwan. But here’s the question for the President-elect and his foreign policy advisers: Are you paying attention to the shifting balance of power in the Pacific…
Trump Will Be Steadier on China Than His Taiwan Call May Suggest
There’s only one smart way to take all the heavy breathing since Donald Trump’s 10-minute telephone conversation last Friday with Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s president. Ignore it: Most of what’s been ricocheting around the press last week misses the point by…
How Romney or Giuliani Would Shape Trump’s Russia Policy
President-elect Trump’s behaving like a 70-year-old Hamlet these days: Will he or won’t he name Mitt Romney his Secretary of State? Or will it be Rudy Giuliani, David Petraeus, Bob Corker or an “outsider.” This is big and Trump must…
Suddenly, Trump Has Three Middle East Crises on His Hands
President-elect Trump, a novice in foreign affairs, was destined to confront reality. Who would have guessed that the Middle East is the first place he’ll have to get down to his first serious policy decisions? Even a week ago it…
5 Foreign Policy Challenges President-Elect Trump Faces Before He Unpacks
Foreigners always watch U.S. elections, but rarely with the edge-of-the-seat suspense evident as the votes were tallied Tuesday. With Donald Trump’s dramatic victory, they’re as much in the dark as we are. Pick your foreign policy: What’s he going to…
The Democrats’ Desperate Russian Gambit Against Trump Will Backfire
The Democrats have regularly played the “Russia card,” implicating Donald Trump in supposedly nefarious ties to Putin and others, ever since the Democratic National Committee’s mail hack exposed how the then party chair, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz favored Clinton over Bernie Sanders….
Turkey Could Turn the Battle for Mosul into a Sectarian Bloodbath
We are now ten days into the Iraqi–led, U.S.–backed fight to retake Mosul, ISIS’s remaining stronghold in Iraq. Assuming a victory, will it look much different than a defeat? The most consequential aftermath is the political, diplomatic, and battlefield mess Turkish…
Obama Is Making Two Huge Mistakes in the War on ISIS in Mosul
The long-anticipated battle to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, is the biggest test to date for President Obama’s strategy against ISIS and other terrorist groups active in the Middle East. The chances of success are decidedly mixed. Paradoxically, the forces…
Obama Has Just Turned Yemen into Another Middle East Quagmire
When a U.S. vessel off the coast of Yemen fired on Houthi rebels Thursday, it sent another of the Obama administration’s delicate balancing acts in the Middle East off the rails. Is the president who says he’s dedicated to getting…
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