USGLC

As Vice President Harris prepares for her upcoming trip to Central America, recent events have raised concerns about corruption not only as one of the root causes of migration but also as a risk that potentially undermines U.S. assistance to improve conditions on the ground.

President Biden headed to the State Department in Washington, DC’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood this week to talk about “restoring America’s place in the world” — his first visit to a cabinet agency as president. Since inauguration, the President has focused each day on a policy issue and Executive Orders, and he used this visit to make the case the United States must “earn back our leadership position” in order to “make big things happen” for American families and the world.

As the election approaches, foreign policy observers are starting to examine the state of the world the President will face in January 2021 and ask what the next Administration would or should do. The draft Democratic platform offers a glimpse into how foreign policy might figure into a Biden Administration’s vision to “build back better.”

What have 2020 candidates been saying about America’s role in the world? Watch this space for updates on foreign policy on the campaign trail.

At the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Mozambique last week, USAID Administrator Mark Green and Deputy Secretary of Commerce Karen Dunn Kelley rolled out more details on the Administration’s Prosper Africa initiative with the ambitious goal of doubling two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa.

Here are seven things to know about NATO at 70 which highlight that the alliance is much more than a promise to honor the principle “an attack on one is an attack on all.”

The BUILD Act – which proposes a new International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) that would double the financing authority of the existing Overseas Private Investment Corporation – passed in the House and out of committee in the Senate with broad bipartisan support. This is remarkable in today’s Washington and a step that has been widely applauded.  As we approach the finish line, the hard part lies ahead:  how do we ensure it is implemented well?  How can we ensure a newly empowered IDFC has the greatest development impact?  How do we promote strong coordination between the IDFC and other U.S. development agencies?

At the recent NATO summit, much time was spent discussing whether America’s allies spend enough on defense. At a time when many of today’s global challenges do not have military solutions alone – from pandemics like Ebola to refugees driven by famines and conflicts – how does the debate shift if we consider not just military spending but spending on global development?

While the coverage of President Trump’s first speech at the United Nations General Assembly has focused on his defense of his “America First” message, stress on “sovereignty,” and threat to totally destroy North Korea, close listeners may have also heard him mention America’s efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, stop preventable disease like malaria, and advance the rights of women and girls around the world for the first time in office.

Against the backdrop of today’s debate about America’s role in the world, it is striking to re-read the speech by Secretary of State George C. Marshall announcing the Marshall Plan on the 70th anniversary of its delivery. The Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild the economies of Western Europe after World War II, is often seen as the model for American global leadership. Secretary Marshall makes not a selfless appeal to support a new global order, but a calculated appeal to Americans’ self-interest, accompanied by a sophisticated series of short films to explain its benefits.