FP’s forum for live journalism
“I don’t give up on Trump. I do think that, for the wrong reasons, we can get him to do the right things” says former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth. Roth sits down with Ravi Agrawal to share his take on human rights today amid democratic backsliding, ongoing conflict, and a new U.S. administration on the world stage.
Roth led Human Rights Watch for nearly 30 years and is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Transcript: Can the World Do Anything About Conflict in 2025?
Pankaj Mishra: How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology
Matthew M. Kavanagh and Luis Gil Abinader: Abolishing USAID Is Both Unconstitutional and Disastrous
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Finnish President Alexander Stubb sits down with Ravi Agrawal on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference to discuss European security in Trump 2.0.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Transcript: Finland’s President: Trump’s Strategy ‘Is a Bit of a Seesaw’
Transcript: The Speech That Stunned Europe
C. Raja Mohan: India Sees Opportunities as Trump Jettisons the Western Order
James Crabtree: Trump Could Make China Great Again
Kishore Mahbubani: It’s Time for Europe to Do the Unthinkable
Kristi Raik: Europe’s 4 Different Ways of Handling Trump
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How history will weigh the war in Gaza, with author Pankaj Mishra. Mishra recently previewed his new book on the subject with Foreign Policy, in a piece titled “How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology.” He shares more now with Ravi Agrawal.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Pankaj Mishra: The World After Gaza: A History
Pankaj Mishra: How Gaza Shattered the West’s Mythology
David E. Rosenberg: Why Gaza Is Israel’s Forever War
Ran Greenstein: Settler Colonialism Isn’t What You Think It Is
Howard W. French: Why Are We Ignoring Human Rights Criticism of Israel?
FP Contributors: What Trump’s Gaza Plan Means for the World
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U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term with rapid-fire proposals ranging from invading Greenland to imposing tariffs on top trading partners. How are these moves being viewed globally? FP Live host Ravi Agrawal is joined by three experts, spanning three continents, to learn more.
Nathalie Tocci serves as the director of the Italian think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali. Former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani is an author and geopolitical analyst. And Ed Luce is a columnist for the Financial Times.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Ravi Agrawal: Trump is Ushering In a More Transactional World
Emma Ashford and Jennifer Kavanagh: Europe Isn’t Ready for Trump 2.0
Matthew M. Kavanagh and Luis Gil Abinader: Abolishing USAID Is Both Unconstitutional And Disastrous
Stephen M. Walt: What IR Theory Predicts About Trump 2.0
Edward Alden: Trump Will Be His Own Trade Czar
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At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, the Trump administration maintained that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1. This comes after announcing a 10 percent duty on China earlier in the week. Trade and capital expert Brad Setser is skeptical that it will follow through, though, saying that the economic ramifications of tariffs at that scale would be a “ pretty bloody big shock.” Setser sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to share more.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Aaron L. Friedberg: Tariffs Are a Scalpel, Not a Hammer
Wendy Cutler: How Trump Could Strike a Trade Deal With China
Keith Johnson: How to Read Trump’s Day-One Trade Actions
Scott Kennedy: Markets Are Underpricing the Possibility of a U.S.-China Economic War
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FP Live host Ravi Agrawal kicked off a lively discussion on the new frontiers of cybersecurity at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was joined by panelists Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation; Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare; Andrius Kubilius, European commissioner for defense and space; Joe Kaeser, chairman of Siemens Energy’s supervisory board; and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Minxin Pei: China’s Secret to Controlling the Internet
Rishi Iyengar: North Korea Does More Cyberspying Than You Think
Dmytro Kuleba: The Fight For Ukraine Is Forging a New World
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Immigration was a top issue among voters in the 2024 U.S. election, with President-elect Donald Trump calling for the “largest deportation operation in American history.” And with the incoming administration expected to take action as soon as Trump returns to office, what are the possible ramifications of this policy? Edward Alden, author of the recent book When the World Closed its Doors: The COVID-19 Tragedy and the Future of Borders, joins host Ravi Agrawal to share his insights.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Transcript: Will Trump Actually Deport Millions of Undocumented Workers
Edward Alden: When the World Closed Its Doors
Edward Alden: The Great Deportation of 2025
Howard W. French: The U.S. Can’t Afford to Be a Bad Neighbor
Christina Lu: What Trump’s Mass Deportations Would Mean for the U.S. Economy
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FP Live is joined by Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, as she details the 2025 edition of “10 Conflicts to Watch.” From Sudan to Myanmar, Haiti, Ukraine, Iran, and beyond, why is the world facing so many crises at once, and how can it solve them?
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood: 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2025
Raphael S. Cohen: China and North Korea Throw U.S. War Plans Out the Window
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Pundits love calling President-elect Trump’s leadership “transactional.” But is that true? FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal shares his take in this audio essay from the upcoming print issue of Foreign Policy’s magazine. Take a listen.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Kori Schake: Why Biden’s Foreign Policy Fell Short
Raghuram Rajan: Isolationism Won’t Make Anyone Great Again
Adam Tooze: America Is Locked in a New Class War
Daniel W. Drezner: Does the Madman Theory Actually Work?
Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Ushering In a More Transactional World
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Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and the author of Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, sits down with host Ravi Agrawal to look ahead to 2025.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Fareed Zakaria Looks Back at 2024
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National security analyst and former Trump administration official Elbridge Colby joined FP Live earlier this year to share his take on what a second Trump term could mean for foreign policy. He was recently tapped to be the under secretary of defense for policy in the incoming administration. As such, he will be an integral part of Trump’s decision-making—making this episode newly relevant.
Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free):
Transcript: Decoding Trump’s Foreign Policy
Elbridge Colby and David Ochmanek: How the United States Could Lose a Great-Power War (2019)
Elbridge Colby: How to Win America’s Next War (2019)
FP Staff: The Trump Transition Begins
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