2020 election: What is America's global role? (audio)
As part of their 2020 U.S. election briefings, on Oct. 8, 2020, Richard Davies and Ashley Milne-Tyte of Common Ground spoke with the Monitor's Paris-based International Editor, Peter Ford, and the Monitor's Diplomacy Writer, Howard LaFranchi, about the differences between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on America’s role in the world.
President Trump’s “America First” policy has led to a U.S. withdrawal from many global institutions. For decades after World War II, American leadership in the world was taken for granted. But with the rise of China's influence, the U.S. role was changing prior to the Trump administration. Would a Biden presidency really substantively shift U.S. foreign policy?
The Common Ground Committee is a nonprofit that "inspires action on polarizing issues by bringing prominent leaders with opposing views together in public forums to find common ground. Free of political agenda and financial influence, our singular focus is bringing light, not heat, to public discourse."
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Ashley Milne-Tyte The U.S. is the world's largest trading nation and spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined. America's peace and prosperity depends on what happens overseas. But despite its importance, foreign policy is mentioned less than other issues in the presidential campaign.
Ashley Milne-Tyte This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte.
Richard Davies And I'm Richard Davies. In this election briefing episode, we look at America's role in the world with two highly experienced journalists, Peter Ford and Howard Lefranchi, based in Paris. Peter is global affairs correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. Previously, he spent a decade as the paper's Beijing bureau chief.
Richard Davies Howard has been the Monitor's diplomacy correspondent, based in Washington since 2001.
Ashley Milne-Tyte We look at the implications of President Trump's America first policy and the US retreat from global institutions. We reached Peter at his home in France and the audio quality was a bit wobbly.
First question to Peter Ford.
