Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report, where the chilly winter weather brings to mind that of America’s future 51st state: Greenland. Or Canada. We’re not sure, either.
Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Biden officials say their goodbyes, President-elect Donald Trump expresses imperialistic ambitions, negotiators keep trying for a Gaza cease-fire deal, and Lebanon finally gets a new president.
Team Biden’s Swan Song
In the waning days of the Biden administration, the outgoing U.S. president and senior members of his team are making their final trips overseas as they seek to bolster key U.S. allies and shore up support for Ukraine ahead of Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20.
The last trips made by Biden and his cabinet officials, which have focused on Europe and the Indo-Pacific, serve as a coda to the central through line of the administration’s foreign-policy efforts: strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia in light of growing competition with China.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan began the week in India, which has been a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to build up alliances in the Indo-Pacific as a counterweight to China’s growing influence.
But Secretary of State Antony Blinken is racking up the most air miles as he swings through East Asia and Europe this week.
“When I took this job, the first instruction President Biden gave me was to do everything possible to re-energize, rejuvenate, in some cases even reimagine, our alliances and partnerships,” he said in Tokyo on Tuesday. “And it’s not by accident the very first trip that I made as Secretary of State was here to Japan, that I’ve traveled here seven times over the course of these four years, and that in fact my last trip as secretary brings me to Japan.”
It wasn’t all smiles, though. Blinken’s Tokyo trip came just days after Biden blocked Nippon Steel’s $14.9 million bid to purchase U.S. Steel in a major blow to the U.S.-Japan alliance—a decision that the country’s prime minister called “perplexing.”
On Thursday, Blinken met with European counterparts in Rome to discuss the situation in Syria. The meeting comes a month after Islamist-led rebels toppled the country’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
Bolstering Ukraine. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s trip to Germany on Thursday to chair the 25th meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group also speaks to the administration’s efforts to shore up support for Ukraine before Trump’s return to office. Austin announced a new $500 million military aid package at the meeting, but continued U.S. support to Ukraine has been called into question by the president-elect and some of his close allies.
In a speech delivered at the gathering at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the countries represented that they would be “crazy to drop the ball now,” almost three years into the war.
“It’s clear that the new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now, at a time when we have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more and achieve even greater results together,” Zelensky said, in reference to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Biden was scheduled to meet with Zelensky in Rome on Friday for a final, unannounced, meeting as president, according to a source close to the Ukrainian government and a U.S. official. But the U.S. president’s trip to Italy on Thursday was canceled so he could stay stateside to focus on the devastating wildfires in California.
Biden, the United States’ second Catholic president, was set to meet with Pope Francis as well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella. Biden had planned to use the visit “to discuss efforts to advance peace around the world, including Pope Francis’ work to alleviate suffering for vulnerable communities,” and was poised to highlight efforts to wrap up an agreement to disburse $50 billion in loans from the G-7 to support Ukraine, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday, before the trip was canceled.
Veep Sweep. Vice President Kamala Harris will swing from Singapore to Bahrain and then Germany next week on her last overseas trip in office. Bahrain is the only Arab state that has publicly joined the U.S.-led efforts to protect international shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen-based Houthi militants.
Harris is set to visit U.S. troops stationed in all three countries during her trip next week. “[T]he vice president felt it important to spend some of her final days in office thanking and engaging directly with U.S. servicemembers deployed overseas, which as she has said, has been one of her greatest privileges as vice president,” Harris’s deputy national security advisor, Dean Lieberman, told The Associated Press in a statement.
Let’s Get Personnel
The latest Trump nominations:
- Morgan Ortagus, deputy special presidential envoy for the Middle East
- Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York
- Tammy Bruce, State Department spokesperson
- Roman Pipko, ambassador to Estonia
- Joe Popolo, ambassador to the Netherlands
- Benjamin Leon Jr., ambassador to Spain
- Kevin Marino Cabrera, ambassador to Panama
- Stephen Miran, Council of Economic Advisors chairman
- Tilman Fertitta, ambassador to Italy
- Mark Burnett, special envoy to the United Kingdom
- David Fink, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration
- Aaron Reitz, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy
- Chad Mizelle, Justice Department chief of staff
- Brian Burch, ambassador to the Holy See
On the Button
What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.
Trump the Conqueror? Trump this week declined to rule out using military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, which he said are vital to U.S. national security.
“It might be that you’ll have to do something,” said the president-elect—who campaigned on a pledge of “no new wars”—during a marathon press conference on Tuesday. He also suggested that he would use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st U.S. state and announced plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Trump’s comments sparked a flurry of criticism—and mockery—from U.S. allies.
Trump reiterates Jan. 20 deadline for Hamas. Trump warned on Tuesday that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release hostages from Gaza before his inauguration on Jan. 20. This echoed a prior warning from Trump that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages aren’t released by then. Trump has not elaborated on what he would do if this deadline is not met.
The Biden administration is pushing hard for a Gaza cease-fire before leaving the White House. Efforts by international negotiators to reach a cease-fire agreement have repeatedly fallen short for more than a year, with both Israel and Hamas blaming the other for the impasse.
But Blinken on Wednesday expressed cautious optimism that a deal could get across the finish line in the near future. “We’re very close to a ceasefire and hostage agreement,” he said. “I hope that we can get it over the line in the time that we have left, but if we don’t, then the plan that President Biden put forward for a ceasefire-hostage deal will be handed over to the incoming administration.”
Better late than never. The Lebanese Parliament voted to elect U.S.-trained Gen. Joseph Aoun, the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, as the country’s new president, ending years of political deadlock in the troubled country. Aoun received support from across the political spectrum, including from Hezbollah lawmakers, in a sign of the group’s diminished position following a bruising war with Israel. Hezbollah had thwarted multiple previous efforts to elect a new president by withdrawing its lawmakers from Parliament, collapsing the necessary quorum.
Snapshot
The flag-draped casket of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 7.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Put On Your Radar
Friday, Jan 10: Inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Monday, Jan 13, to Friday, Jan. 17: Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Singapore, Bahrain, and Germany.
Tuesday, Jan 14: Confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary nominee.
Wednesday, Jan 15: Confirmation hearing for Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of state.
Thursday, Jan 16: Confirmation hearing for Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Quote of the Week
“Why don’t we call it América Mexicana? It sounds pretty, no? Isn’t that true?”
— Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday jokingly suggested that parts of the United States should be renamed “América Mexicana,” while referring to a 17th-century map, as she trolled Trump over his proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
This Week’s Most Read
- 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2025 by Comfort Ero and Richard Atwood
- The Biggest Foreign-Policy Challenges Facing Trump in 2025 by FP Staff
- 8 Simmering Threats You Shouldn’t Ignore in 2025 by FP columnists
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Amid a troubled period in India-Canada relations, a 32-year-old Canadian man was arrested on Monday at the New Delhi airport for having a crocodile skull in his bag, which officials said violates the country’s Wildlife Protection Act and Customs Act.
“A skull with sharp teeth, resembling the jaw of a baby crocodile, weighing approximately 777 grams, was discovered wrapped in a cream-colored cloth,” Delhi Customs said in a statement on Thursday. “The texture, tooth pattern, well-developed bony palate, and nostrils confirmed the item as the skull of a baby crocodile.”