Trump’s Second Inaugural on Foreign Policy

Not since Grover Cleveland won non-consecutive terms in 1884 and 1892 has an American president duplicated this feat. Now Donald Trump, at 78 years old, has come back to win a second term. With it, he has loomed large over American politics for well over a decade. Will Trump’s second term become a success? Or […]
Trump’s Foreign Policy To-Do List for 2025

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025, he will confront a world in turmoil. What are the four biggest foreign policy crises/opportunities that he will likely face over the next year? The first and most obvious is Ukraine. Ever since he invaded on February 24, 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin […]
A Middle East Strategy for the Trump Administration Should Lead with Business Opportunities

The Middle East that awaits a second Trump administration offers unusual opportunity. The US can double down on two major successes – Israel’s war against Iran’s proxy armies and the Abraham Accords peace deal – to expand its regional alliance. At the end of the first Trump administration, the Abraham Accords expanded the alliance at […]
Expanding US-Pakistan Relations Through Mining Projects

The geopolitics of minerals has changed in the last five years, driven largely by the global focus on electric cars. The demand for minerals used in batteries, like lithium, cobalt, and copper, will quadruple by 2040. Among top consumers is the US military; its drone fleets, reconnaissance robots, and directed energy weapons will run on […]
How Donald Trump Can Win the Nobel Peace Prize

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump said that he would end the war between Ukraine and Russia in 24 hours. While he cannot achieve that goal so rapidly, it is conceivable that the second Trump administration could stop the fighting in Ukraine, in which case the president-elect would be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. […]
Ukraine in a Second Trump Administration: The Case for Optimism

Since the US presidential election, friends and supporters have asked us at Razom for Ukraine how we feel about the future of Ukraine. Razom for Ukraine is an American aid and advocacy organization that has delivered more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance since 2022. Razom employs dozens of staff in Ukraine currently on the […]
Rethinking American-Chinese Competition in the Global South

Imagine a world where China buys all the mines in Africa, further solidifying its dominance over the production of rare earth minerals. Imagine if the entire Global South’s telecommunication networks were controlled by Huawei, subsea fiber-optic cables are nearly exclusively built or repaired by China’s HMN Technologies. Imagine the bulk of maritime trade passes through […]
Trump II Will Inherit a Divisive Political Scene in Israel

Most Israelis supported President Trump in this election, believing he would fully support Israel in its ongoing war against Iranian proxies. Prime Minister Netanyahu was among the first world leaders to congratulate him But the future Trump administration’s specific policies towards the Middle East remain unclear. During his campaign, Trump expressed interest in promoting peace […]
Africa in the Second Trump Administration

The Republican Party’s 2024 Platform did not mention Africa. Yet this does not mean that a coherent and potentially transformative American approach towards the “continent of tomorrow” cannot be found in the foreign policy vision articulated by President Trump and in the record of his first term. Here are three general guiding principles: First, America […]
A South Asia Roadmap

As the incoming Trump administration turns its gaze outward, it will find a world that is rudderless in many places, often stagnant and bereft, in no small measure owing to the abdication of any meaningful leadership from the United States that began under Barack Obama. In large parts of the world—Latin America, for instance, and […]