Perry World House hosts panel on post-election foreign policy under new Trump administration

The Perry World House hosted a panel on Nov. 12 to guide community members in thinking about foreign policy post-election.

The panel focused on United States foreign policy towards China, Russia, the Middle East, and Taiwan. Executive Director of PWH Marie Harf, PWH Director Michael Horowitz, and PWH Deputy Director Michael Weisberg spoke on the panel. 

Harf has two decades of experience in a variety of government departments and administrations and worked in the Obama Administration during the last transition to President Donald Trump taking office. Horowitz previously worked in academia on international relations and peace research and has held positions in the Department of Defense. Weisberg has contributed to international work within the United Nations supporting small countries in dealing with the adverse impacts of climate change.

Harf said the goal of the event was to help students understand and learn to consider issues in relation to the new administration. As the world faces major issues such as climate change and global conflict, Harf hopes that the Penn community can think through current events and solutions that help make the world safer, more secure, more prosperous, and more equal.

“This will be a big change in policy,” Harf said. “We want our community to be globally engaged citizens of whatever country they're citizens of who think deeply about the world's challenges about how to address them.”

Horowitz expressed satisfaction with community interest in the event, as turnout for in-person and online attendance was high.

“It shows a real degree of engagement with what the future of us foreign policy looks like, and a more educated public is good for the United States and good for the world,” Horowitz said.

To Horowitz, PWH serves as an institution to bridge the world of academia and policy and practice.

“It's a real honor to be a faculty member at Penn and affiliated with an institution like Perry World House, where we can provide some of that perspective to the Penn community,” he said.

College first year Eden Liu, who attended the event, is from Taiwan, where a key issue in politics is U.S. foreign policy. Liu said that a large focus in Taiwan’s high school civics classes is American foreign strategy. Liu lived in the U.S. for four years during elementary school.

“I'm exceptionally interested in foreign policy,” Liu said. “I was raised in America, so I do care a great deal about America.”

Liu said that the event provided him with a much better understanding of the foreign policy situation surrounding the Trump administration, particularly due to the panelists’ industry expertise.

“I feel more informed about a professional view on this because most of my views have been largely based on the media,” Liu said. “It's a very informative and intellectually delicious thing to basically get the view of professionals.”