The President’s Inbox

This episode unpacks how the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign is accelerating Cuba's economic collapse and what a firsthand trip to the country reveals about life amidst the crisis.

 

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

 

Guest:

Will Freeman, Fellow for Latin America Studies, CFR

 

We Discuss:

What the Trump administration is ultimately seeking to accomplish with its Cuba policy.

How secondary sanctions differ from the existing trade embargo.

What life on the ground in Cuba looks like today, with a mass economic crisis including widespread malnutrition and near-total electricity blackouts.

Whether ordinary Cubans blame the United States or their own government for the crisis.

Whether Cuba's government is attempting to pivot toward a China-style state capitalist system.

What Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA) is, why it controls so much of Cuba's economy, and who actually benefits from it.

Whether the Trump administration's pressure is targeting GAESA directly.

Why a Venezuela-style external coup or regime collapse is harder to engineer in Cuba.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

"Cuba's 176 Market-Liberalization Measures," NBC News, June 20, 2026

 

"July 11, 2021 Protests in Cuba," WOLA, July 2022

 

"Miami Herald Investigation: GAESA's Secret Dollar Reserves," Miami Herald, August 6, 2025

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/maximum-pressure-on-cuba

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

U.S.-India relations have struggled despite U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s close personal relationship. This episode unpacks why tariffs, security concerns, and a détente with China has reframed the importance of the relationship, and what it could take to put it back on track. 

 

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

 

Guest:

 

Sadanand Dhume, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, CFR

 

We Discuss:

Why U.S.-India relations have been uncertain since mid-2025 after having slowly strengthened over many years.

How the second Trump administration’s early actions and India’s multipolar diplomacy forced substantive confrontations thatTrump and  Modi’s personal relationship could not overcome.

Why U.S.-India trade negotiations stalled and the Trump administration imposed tariffs, despite India repeatedly offering concessions.

How the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict and Trump’s claim of forcing a ceasefire put Modi in a domestic political bind.

How Pakistan’s prominent role in brokering the U.S.-Iran ceasefire has amplified Indian anxieties about a U.S.-Pakistan thaw.

Why Trump’s talk of a Group of Two with China undermines its strategic desire to strengthen India as a counterweight to Chinese power.

What the state of the Quad—an informal security dialogue among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan—and the United States’ de-emphasis of the Indo-Pacific framework reveal about U.S. strategy in Asia.

How Modi is normalizing ties with China and whether there is a limit to normalization given the Himalayan border dispute and China’s efforts to constrain India’s growth.

How India’s dependence on Russian arms has fallen over time, and why India is increasingly skeptical that Russia can act independently of China.

Why Modi has resisted domestic political pressure to challenge Trump, and what that restraint reveals about India’s calculation of its long-term national interest.

Where the greatest opportunity lies to rebuild the U.S.-India relationship, and why tech cooperation and Silicon Valley represent the most natural and promising place to start.

 

Mentioned in the Episode:

 

“How People in 24 Countries View India,” Pew Research Center

 

Mathew George, Katarina Djokic, Zain Hussain, Pieter D. Wezeman, and Siemon T. Wezeman, “Trends In International Arms Transfers, 2024,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

This episode unpacks U.S. and Chinese AI strategies, regulation approaches, and the future implications for society and security.

 

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

 

Guest:

Alvin Wang Graylin, Senior Fellow for Technology, Asia Society; Digital Fellow, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence; Professor of AI/Tech Policy, University of Washington

 

We Discuss:

Whether the framing of an AI "race" with China is accurate or helpful, and why it may be producing costly policy distortions.

The concept of AGI (artificial general intelligence) and the thesis that underpins U.S. policy.

China's focus on broad industrial adoption over frontier model development.

How U.S. export controls and visa restrictions spurred the innovations behind DeepSeek.

Why China turned down the offer to purchase NVIDIA H200 chips.

Why Beijing regulates AI more extensively than either the United States or Europe.

The Trump-Xi discussions on AI safety guardrails and the shared interest in preventing non-state bad actors from weaponizing AI.

The economic bubble risk posed by rapidly rising data center costs.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

China's "AI Plus" Initiative, State Council of China, August 2025

 

China's New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, State Council of China, 2017

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/the-myth-of-the-ai-race

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

This episode unpacks the history of 250 years of U.S. foreign policy and examines patterns of the United States’ engagement with the world.

 

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

 

Guest:

Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Author, Dangerous Nation: America’s Place in the World From Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century and The Ghost at the Feast: America and Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941

 

We Discuss:

Why Robert Kagan argues that Americans misunderstand their own history and have long been a “dangerous nation” rather than an insular one.

How American foreign policy debates have always been entangled with domestic politics, and what the polarized fights of the founding era reveal about the true norm of American political life.

Which forces have consistently pulled the United States outward, producing an oscillation between intervention and retrenchment.

Why the era of American imperialism following the Spanish-American War, including the humanitarian motives behind U.S. intervention in Cuba, is among the most misunderstood chapters of U.S. history

Why Americans tend to enter wars with enthusiasm only to sour on them afterward.

Whether the United States is forgetting the lessons of the postwar order.

What the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence should teach Americans about the fragility of liberal democracy.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Robert Kagan, Dangerous Nation: America’s Place in the World From Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, Knopf

 

Robert Kagan, The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900–1941, Knopf

 

Robert Kagan, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World, Knopf

 

Walter Lippmann, U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic, Little, Brown

 

Norman Angell, The Great Illusion, G.P. Putnam’s Sons

 

Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, Free Press

 

James A. Field Jr., “American Imperialism: The Worst Chapter in Almost Any Book,” American Historical Review

 

“Declaration of Independence,” National Archives

 

George Washington, “Farewell Address,” 1796

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/lessons-from-250-years-of-us-foreign-policy

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

This episode unpacks the unique challenges faced by women leaders, their contributions to democracy, and the critical lessons they offer in the fight against authoritarianism.

 

Enter the CFR book giveaway by July 8, 2026, for the chance to win one of ten free copies of Women in Power by Linda Robinson. You can read the terms and conditions of the offer here.

 

Host:

James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

 

Guest:

Linda Robinson, Senior Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy, CFR; Author, Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism

 

We Discuss:

Why women's political representation has stalled at roughly 27 percent in the world's legislatures.

How right-wing authoritarianism and the normalization of violent misogyny have combined to create ferocious headwinds for women in politics.

Whether women govern differently from men, and what the research reveals about their attentiveness to health, education, welfare, and climate issues.

Why rolling back women's rights is central to authoritarian and right-wing movements, and why playing the "misogyny card" proves so effective, even among women voters.

Why some of the most prominent nationalist movements—in Italy, France, and Germany—are led by women, and how right-leaning figures like Giorgia Meloni complicate the picture.

How authoritarian governments use hybrid warfare and gendered disinformation against women leaders, including Chinese campaigns against Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen and Russian campaigns against Moldova's Maia Sandu.

Which common themes emerge among successful women leaders.

Which policy reforms could strengthen both democracy and women's political participation.

 

Mentioned on the Episode:

 

Linda Robinson, Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism, Columbia University Press

 

Sanna Marin, Hope in Action: A Memoir About the Courage to Lead, Scribner

 

“Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy,” Freedom House

 

“Expanding Representation: Reinventing Congress for the 21st Century,” American Academy of Arts and Sciences

 

“TAKE IT DOWN Act (S.146),” U.S. Congress

 

“The Digital Services Act,” European Commission

 

“First Five,” HBO Max

 

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/women-in-power

 

Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.