Trump's State of the Union address was lean on foreign policy content

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+ (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must. FADEL: To discuss what we learned and what we didn't about Trump's foreign policy, we're joined by Emma Ashford. She is a senior fellow with the Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center, which is a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank dedicated to promoting international security and justice. Good morning, Emma. EMMA ASHFORD: Good morning. FADEL: So, Emma, this speech, as I mentioned, was quite light on Trump's approach to the world. Did you come away knowing or learning anything new about the president's foreign policy here? ASHFORD: No. I think, like many people, I was watching very closely for the foreign policy section, particularly when it comes to Iran and the president's Middle East policy. And instead of sort of any announcement of, you know, a policy going forward with Iran, he simply repeated the existing approach, which is build up a force in the region, wanting to get to some sort of nuclear agreement with the Iranians. So he is in very many ways, treading water on the question of Iran, talks about how they are, you know, doing bad things, but not saying where we're going next. And so I was actually quite surprised at how little substance there really was in the speech. FADEL: Why do you think he sort of avoided - there was this expectation that he might make a big announcement on Iran. Why do you think foreign policy was such a small part of his speech? ASHFORD: The administration has actually emphasized foreign policy over the last year. It's been a top priority. But I think here, they were very much trying to play to voters' domestic concerns, and that may well be another reason why we're seeing them being so cautious on Iran. The president seems to have backed himself very much into a corner. But the idea of strikes on Iran is actually wildly unpopular among the American public. Even in Congress there are questions, and there's not been really any explanation of what this is intended to achieve. FADEL: And negotiations with Iran are ongoing - will go on tomorrow. Trump listed a series of wars that he says he ended in his prepared remarks - the war in Gaza one of them. Here's what he said about that. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: And, of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level. It's just about there. FADEL: So that was a little bit of an admission from the president, right? I mean, he negotiated this ceasefire but then acknowledges that there has been violence. I mean, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since that ceasefire. ASHFORD: That seems to have been a little bit of an ad lib, but he isn't clearly admitting the truth, which is that this is a ceasefire that is mostly holding but not all the way. In general, I think it was very notable that he called out not just these peace deals he's apparently negotiated - although not all of them are real - but he also took the time to acknowledge Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who he has empowered to go out and try and make these peace deals everywhere, from Gaza to Ukraine. So peacemaking still does seem to be a priority for the administration. FADEL: Well, let me ask you about that because his address came on the four-year mark of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He mentioned the war, saying only that it never would have started if he'd been in the White House, but not much else. Was that an opportunity missed? ASHFORD: I think he also took the opportunity to point out that European states are now paying for most of the cost of the war in Ukraine, which I think is a relatively popular talking point of his. But there is no real progress to be reported on Ukraine peace talks right now. So I think sort of not mentioning it was probably the better part of valor here. FADEL: Emma Ashford is a senior fellow with the Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. Thank you for your time and your insights. ASHFORD: Thanks so much. (SOUNDBITE OF DO MAKE SAY THINK'S "THE LANDLORD IS DEAD") Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. 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