New Atlanticist

Can Trump’s Anti-EU Rhetoric Unite Europe?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, sees a silver lining While US President Donald Trump’s predictions that other member states, besides the United Kingdom, will desert the European Union (EU) are unhelpful, they serve as a wake-up call for the EU to set its house in order, according to a senior European official. […]

Astana Peace Talks: To the Victor Go the Spoils

By Nabeel Khoury

The Syrian peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, consecrate Russia’s primacy in Syria, launched with its entrance into the conflict in 2015, and extended with its ability now to convene peace talks and dictate terms. The outcome of the talks on January 23 also put on display the ascendant axis of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanese […]

Trump to Meet British Prime Minister May. Here’s What You Should Know.

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Interview with Sir Peter Westmacott, distinguished ambassadorial fellow at the Atlantic Council US President Donald Trump will meet British Prime Minister Theresa May—his first meeting with a head of state or government since his inauguration on January 20—at the White House on January 27. Sir Peter Westmacott, distinguished ambassadorial fellow at the Atlantic Council who […]

Germany’s ‘Marshall Plan’ for Africa

By J. Peter Pham

Explicitly invoking the US aid initiative that rebuilt Western Europe’s devastated infrastructure and weakened economies after World War II as a bulwark against Communist expansionism, the German government unveiled its ambitious framework for a “Marshall Plan with Africa” (Eckpunkte für einen Marshallplan mit Afrika) on January 18 with the twin objectives of increasing trade and […]

The United States Quits TPP: A Gift for China

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald Trump’s decision to take the United States out of a free-trade agreement with eleven other Pacific Rim nations is a “gift” for China because it undermines a deal through which the United States had sought to write the rules of the road for global trade, according to two Atlantic Council analysts. “Donald […]

The Time is Right for a ‘More Assertive’ US Role on World Stage

By Rachel Ansley

The United States must take on a “more assertive” role on the global stage as President-elect Donald Trump and his newly appointed team devise a cohesive national security strategy to deter and counter both immediate and looming challenges, according to the Atlantic Council’s Barry Pavel, who is a former member of the National Security Council […]

A Democracy Test in The Gambia

By Kelsey Lilley

Even as Donald Trump was preparing for his inauguration as the next president of the United States, a more contentious transition of power was being attempted in the Gambia, where the incumbent president, Yahya Jammeh, has stubbornly refused to make way for President-elect Adama Barrow. Senegalese forces under the umbrella of Economic Community of West […]

Ukraine Confident US Support Will Not Waver

By Teri Schultz

‘Channeling Brussels’ with Yehor Bozhok, Ukraine’s acting head of mission at NATO While the United States’ allies in Europe have been shaken by US President-elect Donald Trump’s description of NATO as “obsolete” and his suggestion that he may consider relaxing US sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine, Ukraine’s top diplomat at NATO […]

Look for These Foreign Policy Themes in Trump’s Inaugural Address

By Alex Ward

Though inauguration speeches are not known for their foreign policy pronouncements, the world’s complexity demands that US President-elect Donald J. Trump mention foreign policy in his address to the nation during his inauguration on January 20. In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt used his speech to describe how the United States could continue on the path to […]

Trump Said What?

A closer look at some of Donald Trump’s foreign policy positions US President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about NATO, the European Union (EU), and Russia have rattled US allies as they look for indicators as to how the United States will engage with the international community and establish its role in the world. On January 16, […]