Oct 29, 2026 · 52 min
U.S. Retreat Tests Alliances and the Global Order
Transactional U.S. Foreign Policy + Who Are America’s Friends Now?
The episode examines how transactional American leadership could reshape security commitments, economic relationships, and the rules governing an unsettled world.
- 1Transactional U.S. foreign policy is straining alliances while leaving Europe to shoulder greater responsibility for Ukraine and regional security.
- 2U.S.-China rivalry extends from trade and Taiwan to artificial intelligence, where shared risks make dialogue necessary but cooperation uncertain.
- 3The postwar order is weakening without a settled replacement, creating openings for competing visions of global leadership.
Don't miss
Steinberg warns that strengthening Taiwan’s resilience could inadvertently signal to Beijing that Taiwan is expendable.
The brief
Rebecca Patterson and James Steinberg examine what happens when the United States treats foreign policy as a series of transactions rather than a durable system of commitments.
The discussion connects weaker U.S. backing to Europe’s struggle over Ukraine, limited military capacity, fiscal pressure, and populist politics that complicate coherent action.
Trade and technology expose the same tension: Europe wants resilience without abandoning commerce, while Washington and China face shared AI risks but little trust.
On Taiwan, Steinberg warns that U.S. efforts to build resilience could inadvertently tell Beijing that the island is expendable, raising the danger of miscalculation.
The conversation closes on an unsettled postwar order and the leaders being trained at the School of Advanced International Studies to shape what replaces it.
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