The Biden administration’s foreign-policy agenda during its first two years in office has been marked by Russia’s war in Ukraine, increased tensions with China, the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and several other pressing issues. 

At roughly the halfway point of his first term, it’s a good time to ask: How has U.S. President Joe Biden performed on foreign policy? Is there an emerging Biden Doctrine? 

FP Live host Ravi Agrawal spoke to experts on both sides of the aisle for answers. Nadia Schadlow is a former deputy national security advisor in the Trump administration and now serves as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Stephen Wertheim is a historian of U.S. foreign policy and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The two disagree on how to assess Biden but probably not in the way you might expect.

Grading Biden’s Foreign Policy

Each week, Foreign Policy Live will feature a substantive conversation on world affairs. Host and FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal will be joined by leading foreign-policy thinkers and practitioners to analyze a key issue in global politics, from the U.S.-China relationship to conflict and diplomacy. FP Live is your weekly fix for smart thinking about the world.

Foreign Policy magazine subscribers can watch these interviews live and submit questions and suggestions by going to https://foreignpolicy.com/live/.

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Increasingly, countries are closing off their economics and questioning the case for globalization. But where does this leave the Bretton Woods institutions intended to facilitate peace and prosperity through trade? World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala joins FP Live to discuss.
Suggested reading:
Gordon Brown: A New Multilateralism
Eswar Prasad: The World Will Regret Its Retreat From Globalization
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Where Global Governance Went Wrong—and How to Fix It
Adam Posen: America’s Zero-Sum Economics Doesn’t Add Up
Gita Gopinath: How Policymakers Should Handle a Fragmenting World
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the White House’s New China Tariffs

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Europe this week is “perhaps one of the most aggressive attempts on the part of the Chinese to actively foment disunity,” Evan Medeiros says. How will his visit play out in Washington, particularly on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s own diplomatic efforts in Beijing? And what would closer EU-China ties mean for U.S.-China competition?
Medeiros was a key advisor on China policy during the Obama administration. He is currently a professor at Georgetown University.
Suggested reading:
The Economist: Emmanuel Macron in his own words (English)
Hal Brands and Michael Beckley: China Is a Declining Power—and That’s the Problem
Evan S. Medeiros: The Delusion of Peak China
Fareed Zakaria: The dangerous new call for regime change in Beijing
Christina Lu: Can Xi Win Back Europe?
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China’s Attempt to ‘Divide and Conquer’ Europe

Gaza faces what the World Food Program is calling “catastrophic levels of hunger.” And the United Nations recently issued a report that said a famine is “imminent.” Ravi Agrawal is joined by two experts on the humanitarian situation in Gaza to discuss what the international community can do to prevent the worst outcomes.
Sari Bashi is a program director for Human Rights Watch. Shira Efron is the director of research at the Israel Policy Forum.
Suggested reading:
Mohannad Sabry: How to Get More Aid Into Gaza
Shira Efron: The Best Way to Deal With Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis
Howard W. French: Why Aren’t We Talking More About the Famine in Gaza?
Human Rights Watch: Israel: Starvation Used as Weapon of War in Gaza
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How to Stave Off a Famine in Gaza

Now that Congress has approved around $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Washington is racing to get military supplies to the war’s front lines. How will Kyiv use the assistance, and how will it impact the course of the war? Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba sits down with FP Live from his office in Kyiv. 
Suggested reading:
J.D. Vance: The Math on Ukraine Doesn’t Add Up
Jack Detsch: Ukraine Is Still Outgunned By Russia
Robbie Gramer and Rishi Iyengar: U.S. Allies Relieved After Senate Passes Long-Delayed Aid Bill
Christian Caryl: What Do Russians Really Think About Putin’s War?
Ravi Agrawal: How Kyiv Plans to Use American Aid
For more podcasts, check out the latest episode of Disorder, 'How Small States Can Save the World,' featuring Former President of Armenia Dr Armen Sarkissian: https://linktr.ee/disorderpod
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How Kyiv Plans to Use American Aid

The Republican Party is clearly divided on Ukraine, as recent votes in Congress have underscored. But beyond that, is it more united on foreign policy than we imagine? A new book argues just that. Matthew Kroenig is an FP columnist and a co-author of We Win, They Lose: Republican Foreign Policy and the New Cold War. He joins FP Live to discuss what a Trump 2.0 foreign policy might look like and who would be at its helm. 
Suggested reading:
Matthew Kroenig and Dan Negrea: Republicans Are More United on Foreign Policy Than it Seems
Emma Ashford and Matthew Kroenig: Are Both U.S. Parties Divided on Foreign Policy?
Stephen M. Walt: Another Trump Presidency Won’t Much Change U.S. Foreign Policy
Ravi Agrawal: Does Trump Have a Foreign-Policy Vision?
For more podcasts, check out the latest episode of Disorder, 'How Small States Can Save the World,' featuring Former President of Armenia Dr Armen Sarkissian: https://linktr.ee/disorderpod
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grading Biden’s Foreign Policy

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