Last Tuesday, January 31, the Atlantic Council joined the US chapter of the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA-US) and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs’ Graduate Student Forum (GSF), and young professionals in DC’s transatlantic community to watch President Trump’s first State of the Union address to Congress.
Prior to the start of the address, Robbie Gramer, diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy provided opening remarks to set the stage for the speech and outline key themes he anticipated would be addressed in the speech. This year’s State of the Union served as an opportunity for the president to outline his legislative agenda and priorities for the year ahead. While North Korea and Iran were mentioned, the president’s foreign policy agenda was largely overshadowed by a focus on domestic and economic issues, including immigration, infrastructure development, and healthcare reform.