Trump’s ‘America First’ Foreign Policy

“The association of the United States with the cause of freedom is one of our greatest assets. It is true that people are coming here or wish to come here for economic advantage, but they also want to come here because of the nature of this society. We stand for freedom. People around the world know that, and I think we lose a great deal if we lose that association.”  — Elliott Abrams

About the Episode

Donald Trump entered office promising to be the “America First” president. But what does that mean for U.S. foreign policy? And what challenges and opportunities will Trump and Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, face regarding the Middle East, Ukraine, and the nation’s global alliances?

In this episode of “Baker Briefing,” David M. Satterfield sits down with Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a veteran foreign policy advisor. Together, they break down the administration’s approach to key geopolitical issues, from Gaza to NATO commitments.

This conversation was recorded on Jan. 22, 2025. Subscribe and listen to “Baker Briefing” on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available here. This transcript was AI-generated and has not been through editorial review.

About ‘Baker Briefing’

Hosted by David M. Satterfield,  the “Baker Briefing” podcast delivers timely analysis on breaking policy developments and other critical policy issues of the day in conversations with experts at the Baker Institute. New episodes are released weekly.

Certain episodes of “Baker Briefing” are recorded in front of a live audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas. These recordings are free and open to the public. To learn about upcoming recordings and other public programming from the Baker Institute, subscribe to our “Events Digest” newsletter, delivered weekly.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.