Foreign Policy In Focus

On April 27, 2026, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz launched the Trade Over Aid Initiative from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The initiative was built on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s argument that government-to-government aid breeds “dependency, inefficiency, and corruption” while free markets and private trade built every successful economy on earth.

When ministers from seven key OPEC plus countries concluded their virtual deliberations on August 2, 2026, and announced a scheduled production adjustment of 188,000 barrels per day for September, financial desks from London to New York instantly swung into familiar routines. Analysts parsed the numerical increments, debated compliance rates with the Declaration of Cooperation, and weighed whether the adjustment would stabilize short-term futures prices.

Remember that photo from Donald Trump’s first overseas trip as a president back in 2017? The new president was in Riyadh. Instead of going to Europe or Japan or Canada, Trump was making his first presidential trip to Saudi Arabia. And there he was, at the opening of a new World Center for Countering Extremist Thought, flashing his trademark smirk as he put his hands on a glowing orb that represented the globe.

On August 7, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a defense pact that echoed Article 5 of NATO: an attack on one will be attack on all. The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, for its vernacular, has sent shockwaves across the region and beyond, as all three signatories have long-festering feuds with their neighbors. Saudi Arabia is locked in a years-long war with neighboring Yemen since 2015, and recently with Iraq.

In late July, more than 30 water and wastewater systems in Minnesota were hit in a coordinated cyberattack, part of a broader campaign affecting utilities in at least seven states. Federal investigators have not formally attributed the attacks, though Iranian-linked actors are among the suspects.

The first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency have had a dismal, yet undeniable, impact on democracy. He has inflicted considerable damage on U.S. political institutions, and this has shattered the confidence people have in the rule of law nationwide. Recent public opinion polls show that only 55 percent of Americans feel pride in their country, a record low. Over half of respondents believe that America has strayed from the principles established by its Founding Fathers.

Originally published in TomDispatch. President Donald Trump and self-styled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are pushing for a post-World War II record $1.6 trillion Pentagon budget for next year, a sum so obscenely high that it is almost impossible to comprehend. The proposed $600 billion increase alone is almost twice the total annual military budget of America’s closest rival, China.

On July 30, the Senate again rejected an effort to limit President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran, this time by 49-50. A week earlier, another Senate war powers measure failed 47-49, while the House passed a resolution 214-208 directing the president to end hostilities not authorized by Congress. These votes are more than a series of partisan defeats.

The Trump administration marked the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of U.S. independence with a series of statements in support of American empire. Despite the fact that Trump campaigned against endless war and the White House issued a National Security Strategy that rejected “global domination,” the Trump administration celebrated the nation’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary by glorifying empire as one of the country’s highest achievements.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced this week that his government had denied visas to two U.S. State Department officials headed to Brazil ahead of October’s presidential election. “This week we had to deny visas to two young people whom they are sending to Brazil to meddle in the Brazilian elections,” Lula said. The officials, Riley Barnes and Samuel Samson, both work in the department’s democracy and human rights bureau.