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Biden’s Foreign Policy Legacy and What Trump is Inheriting

Jamil Anderlini, Anton La Guardia, and Carla Anne Robbins join Ivo Daalder to discuss the week's top news stories.
President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy during a speech at the State Department on January 13, 2025. Play Video
Susan Walsh / AP

About This Episode

President Biden entered office with ambitious foreign policy goals and is leaving a complicated legacy. Though he navigated the global COVID-19 pandemic, rallied allies to support Ukraine, and implemented policies to address climate change, challenges such as the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, record illegal border crossings, the war in Gaza, and high inflation marred his term. The Gaza cease-fire that looks eminent mirrors a Biden proposal, yet Donald Trump has claimed credit for the deal. Will Biden’s presidency be remembered as an interlude between two Trump terms? Jamil Anderlini, Anton La Guardia, and Carla Anne Robbins join Ivo Daalder on this week’s World Review to evaluate Biden’s foreign policy record and what he leaves behind for Trump, including the Gaza cease-fire deal that Israel’s cabinet still needs to ratify and waning public support for continuing to aid to Ukraine.

About the Panelists
Regional Director, POLITICO Europe
Jamil Anderlini headshot
Jamil Anderlini is POLITICO Europe’s Editor-in-Chief. An award-winning journalist, editor, and published author, he joined POLITICO Europe from the Financial Times where he worked as Asia Editor, Assistant Editor, and member of the Editorial Board.
Jamil Anderlini headshot
Diplomatic Editor, The Economist
Anton La Guardia
Anton La Guardia is the diplomatic editor of The Economist, based in Washington, DC. Prior to this role, he was the digital editor, deputy foreign editor and Middle East and Africa editor
Anton La Guardia
Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Headshot of Carla Anne Robbins
Before joining CFR, Carla Anne Robbins was the deputy editorial page editor of The New York Times and chief diplomatic correspondent of the Wall Street Journal. She is also faculty director of the MIA program at Baruch College's Marxe School.
Headshot of Carla Anne Robbins
CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Headshot of Ivo H. Daalder
Ivo H. Daalder served as the US ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. He joined the Council as president in 2013 and took on the new role of CEO in 2023. Previously, he was a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution and served as director for European affairs on President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. He is the author or editor of 10 books.
Headshot of Ivo H. Daalder