With the world riveted by the US presidential election, the debate pivoted on the world. On Tuesday evening, former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris faced off in Philadelphia ahead of the November 5 vote. From tariffs to energy and immigration, and from China to the Middle East, the two candidates often presented sharply contrasting visions on a range of foreign policy issues—including consequential questions about the stakes for the United States in averting a Russian triumph in Ukraine and assuring a Ukrainian victory. Below, Atlantic Council experts offer insight on what we learned from the debate about each candidate’s globe-spanning intentions.
On Ukraine, the debate underscored an unfortunate synergy between the two sides
The presidential candidates largely covered old ground in discussing Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Trump reiterated that he would end the war as president-elect because he knows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin well and both respect him. He also repeated his claim that Putin never would have launched the full-scale invasion if he, Trump, were in office; Putin attacked, according to Trump, because the Biden administration was weak, as evidenced in its disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump also echoed the inaccurate theme often heard on the populist right that the United States has provided significantly more aid to Ukraine than its European allies have.
Perhaps the most interesting moment on Russia and Ukraine came when the moderators asked if Trump thought a Ukrainian victory was in US interests—twice. Trump’s response was that an end to this bloody conflict, which has cost “millions of lives,” was in the US interest.
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