Are America's Allies Finally Learning to Deal With Trump? A Conversation With Philip H. Gordon and Mara Karlin

About this episode

Philip H. Gordon and Mara Karlin discuss the evolving responses of U.S. allies during Trump's second term and the implications for U.S. power.

Six months ago, Philip Gordon and Mara Karlin wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs about the plight of the United States’ allies in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term. What was surprising, they argued, was not the administration’s cajoling and threats, or all the ways U.S. policy had called into question the basic principles of these relationships. The surprise was that allies were surprised by these moves in the first place. Almost a year into Trump’s second term, they had done little to develop a plan B. The months since have brought a wave of new challenges to U.S. alliances—the threats to seize Greenland and pull out of NATO, the continued warnings to free-riders, the shifting approach to China, and a war in Iran launched with little consultation even of the Gulf leaders who would be most directly affected. Editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan spoke to Gordon, who was national security adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, and Karlin, who was assistant secretary of defense in the Biden administration, on June 1. They discussed how the responses of U.S. allies in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East have evolved over the course of Trump’s second term, and how those responses will shape…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Kurtz-Phelan

Guests: Philip H. Gordon, Mara Karlin

Topics covered

• U.S. foreign policy
• Trump administration
• international relations
• U.S. allies
• national security
• geopolitical challenges

Keywords

• Trump
• allies
• foreign policy
• national security
• NATO
• China
• Iran
• geopolitics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Foreign Affairs, Biden administration

Places: United States, NATO, Iran, Greenland, Asia, Europe, Middle East

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