USA | Foreign Policy

President Donald Trump’s Mideast agenda indicated that business would take priority. Yet the outlines of an emerging Trump foreign policy are visible.

Peru received $135 million in USAID funding in 2024. Substantial contributions were for areas ranging from democratic governance to minority rights.

A hoped-for deal between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy collapsed, with consequences for the future of Ukraine and of U.S. leadership.

While President Trump has ridiculed past U.S. military deployments and nation-building efforts, he has consistently been drawn to Mideast diplomacy. But his proposal to “own” and develop the Gaza Strip and displace its population has many questioning how serious he is.

President Trump is wrong when he says China controls the Panama Canal. But the U.S. rival does have influence there, and the administration is moving to counter it. 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Panama’s president in a face-to-face meeting that the Central American ally must reduce alleged Chinese influence over the Panama Canal or the Trump administration will take “measures necessary” to do so.

The Trump administration’s temporary freeze in U.S. foreign aid raises anew the issue of how, in a competitive world, Washington helps itself by helping others.

What resources and time will Donald Trump’s “America First” administration devote to keeping the Israel-Hamas deal on track? The challenges may appear overwhelming, but the idea of a grand deal is enticing.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad has created challenges and opportunities for the United States in Syria. But the dissonance between the current and future U.S. administrations is confusing major players in the Middle East.

Donald Trump has put together a Mideast team charged with building on his first term’s successes. But in a region shaken by the war in Gaza, can the deal-making president achieve a historic peace agreement with a pro-Israel team?