Can the U.S. Still Lead in Today’s World? A Conversation with Jake Sullivan

Sullivan argues Trump-era alliance damage and underinvestment leave the US weaker versus China, though not irreversibly so.

• Alliances shattered: Sullivan says Trump has "shattered the American alliance system" to the point allies may not trust a future president's outreach, versus the Biden-era highs in NATO, US-Japan-Korea, AUKUS, and US-India ties.
• China emboldened, not managed: Sullivan argues Xi Jinping left his recent US visit confident he holds the "catbird seat," with Trump treating US-China ties as a personal two-man relationship rather than an allied coalition strategy.

Themes, sentiment and reasons are AI-written paraphrases, checked so they never quote an episode. They may contain errors. Not investment advice. Episodes remain the property of their creators.