2026-01-22
55 分钟I'm Dan Kurtz-Valen and this is the Foreign Affairs Interview.
What we're seeing is
because the president has used tariffs unconstrained by congressional oversight,
every time there is an irritant internationally,
whether it is a former leader that is brought before a court case on corruption charges in the case of Brazil or now,
the desire to purchase Greenland, the president just uses tariffs in a punitive way.
I don't think our allies anticipated that this would be the America that they've depended on
since the Second World War.
In the past year,
Donald Trump has upended the global trading system and used American economic power like no president in recent memory.
He's imposed tariffs to force other countries to fall into line on everything from commercial issues to geopolitical disputes,
like this week's threats against NATO partners over Greenland.
He's called into question the role of the dollar, and at home,
he's attacked the independence of the Federal Reserve and intervened in private sector decision-making.
Layle Brainard served as director of the National Economic Council and the Biden administration,
and before that, as vice chair of the Federal Reserve.
I wanted to speak to her not so much about the short-term consequences of Trump's policies,
but about what they would mean for US power and prosperity in the long term.
She's taken on that question in recent pieces for foreign affairs, and in our conversation,
she's stressed not just the risks posed by Trump's economic agenda,