Foreign Policy Live

Chinese exports of rare earths, a critical component in manufacturing high-end tech products, emerged as a key sticking point in this week’s trade talks between Beijing and Washington. Underpinning all of this is the race for artificial intelligence supremacy. Who is winning this competition? Who is best placed to control the supply chains of all the components that go into the top chips and AI models? Jared Cohen and George Lee, the co-heads of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, join FP Live.

Note: This discussion is part of a series of episodes brought to you by the Goldman Sachs Global Institute.

Jared Cohen: The AI Economy’s Massive Vulnerability

Rishi Iyengar & Lili Pike: Is It Too Late to Slow China’s AI Development?

Vivek Chilukuri: How the United States Can Win the Global Tech Race

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Drones are playing an increasingly decisive role in conflicts around the world. Coupled with artificial intelligence and other technological advances, the very nature of warfare is transforming in front of our eyes. Are countries and their policymakers prepared? 

Mara Karlin, former assistant secretary of defense under U.S. President Joe Biden, joins FP Live to share her insights. Karlin is also the author of The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War.

John Haltiwanger: Drones are Transforming South Asian Warfare

Stephen M. Walt: Ukraine’s Drone Attack Doesn’t Matter

Christian Caryl: The Ukrainians’ New Way of War

Mara Karlin: The Inheritance: America’s Military After Two Decades of War

Stanley McChrystal and Anshu Roy: AI Has Entered the Situation Room

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Gen Z has come of age amid a pandemic, growing polarization, and deep distrust of bureaucratic institutions. How does this shape their political and economic views? Do they still believe in the American Dream? Economic analyst and author Kyla Scanlon joins FP Live to discuss.

Suggested reading:

Institute of Politics: Spring 2025 Harvard Youth Poll

Kyla Scanlon: Gen Z and the End of Predictable Progress

Kyla Scanlon: FAFOnomics: How Chaos Became America’s Economic Strategy

Kyla Scanlon: Dollar Devaluation and the Antisystem Youth

Kyla Scanlon: In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work?

Kathleen J. McInnis: How to Sell NATO to Gen Z

Joseph E. Stiglitz: Big Tech Is Trying to Prevent Debate About Its Social Harms

Jeongmin Kim: Why Young Koreans Love to Splurge

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Earlier this week, thousands of Palestinians stormed an aid distribution site in Gaza, underlining the ongoing humanitarian crisis there and prompting the question: Why isn’t the world doing more?

Martin Griffiths served as the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the United Nations from 2021 until 2024. He is currently with the Mediation Group International and joins Ravi Agrawal to push for solutions to the multiple crises spanning our globe.

Suggested reading:

Neha Wadekar: The World’s Refugee Relief Is Utterly Broken

David E. Rosenberg: The Old War Is Over in Gaza, and a New One Is Underway

Michael Hirsh: A New Authoritarian Era in the Mideast?

Robbie Gramer: How the U.S. Fumbled Sudan’s Hopes for Democracy

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**Hello listeners, an earlier version of this episode contained glitches due to an upload error. If you hear breaks in the audio, please download the episode again for the corrected version. Thanks for listening, and we apologize for the mishap!**

Is Trump’s Middle East Policy a Break From the Past?

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump visited three countries in the Middle East—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar—on the first scheduled foreign trip of his second term. While many of the headlines from the trip focused on the 747 jetliner Qatar donated for use as Air Force One, it’s probably more notable that Trump rejected decades of Western intervention in the region and declared that there would be “no more lectures” from America. Is the Trump administration re-aligning American priorities in the region? F. Gregory Gause, visiting scholar at the Middle East Institute, joins FP Live to discuss why the Gulf monarchies are rising in importance. 

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Howard W. French: What Trump Got Right in the Middle East

Agathe Demarais: The U.S. Economy Is Now Trump Enterprises

Michael Hirsh: A New Authoritarian Era in the Mideast?

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U.S. President Donald Trump came to office promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, but he hasn’t actually hit the numbers he said he would. Is that because it’s harder than it sounds, or are more plans in the works? And what will Trump’s immigration policy do to America’s standing in the world? Janet Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona and secretary of homeland security under President Barack Obama, joins FP Live to share her experience managing the issue of illegal immigration. 

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Jonathan M. Katz: Trump’s Deportation Machine Takes Shape

Christina Noriega: Trump’s Aid Freeze Is Undermining His Immigration Policy

Daniel B. Baer: Trump’s Brain Drain Will Be Europe’s Gain

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Two nuclear-armed countries, India and Pakistan, are locked in their most serious conflict in two decades. Early Wednesday morning, after weeks of pledging to retaliate for the deadliest terrorist attack in more than a decade, India launched missiles across its border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan claims it took down Indian fighter jets and has vowed to respond.

FP’s Ravi Agrawal asks Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, how far tensions could spiral. They discuss the options for de-escalation and what role external powers can play.

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Ravi Agrawal: How India and Pakistan Can Pull Back From the Brink

Rishi Iyengar: A Tale of Four Fighter Jets

Sumit Ganguly: What Is the Risk of a Conflict Spiral Between India and Pakistan?

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To mark the first 100 days of the second Trump White House, we have a special ask-me-anything episode. Amid a firehose of news, which policies will endure, and which are purely rhetorical? How does Foreign Policy find the signal in the noise?

FP Live’s executive producer, Dana Sherne, turns the tables on host Ravi Agrawal as he assesses the implications of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Ushering In a More Transactional World

Stephen M. Walt: Trump Is Not a Revolutionary

Daniel Treisman: The Deep Familiarity of Donald Trump

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April 29 marks the 100th day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term. What do foreign policy experts make of his administration’s performance so far, as it continues to wage a trade war, reshape long-standing diplomatic relationships with allies and alliances, and advance a new world order? FP columnist Emma Ashford sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss.

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Emma Ashford: Four Explanatory Models for Trump’s Chaos

Emma Ashford and Matthew Kroenig: Is the World Overreacting to Trump?

Nicholas Bequelin: The Key to Understanding Trump’s Chaotic Foreign Policy

John J. Mearsheimer in Foreign Affairs: Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault

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The rollout of the Trump administration’s tariffs has rattled markets, prompting questions of what these protectionist policies mean for the global economy moving forward. Two top experts on globalization join FP Live to share their thoughts. Elisabeth Braw is an FP columnist and the author of Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World. And Eswar Prasad is a trade scholar and professor at Cornell University.

We want to hear from you! Help us shape the future of FP Live by sharing your thoughts on the show by clicking here. Contact us anytime at [email protected].

Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):

Transcript: Is the World Going to Deglobalize?

Elisabeth Braw: What’s the Cost of Doing Business Under Trump?

Eswar Prasad: The World Will Regret Its Retreat From Globalization

Joseph E. Stiglitz: Play by the Rules

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