“Finally, the US is standing up for itself after four years of not doing that,” says Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador, about the dual diplomatic crises with China and Russia facing the Biden administration. “I think it’s been an important week to reposition the US.”

Shultz had a deep commitment to what he called “tending the diplomatic garden.” I was a young Foreign Service officer accompanying Shultz. Watching the way he treated his hosts in each capital city was a powerful lesson in American diplomacy and why it matters.

The new president’s vow to restore the trans-Atlantic alliance is welcome, but Europeans want a more balanced relationship, with more dialogue and less diktat.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, talks to Becky Anderson about Joe Biden's foreign policy vision, and what would be a smart next move for the U.S.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns, former top official and ambassador at the State Department, joins Andrea Mitchell today ahead of President Biden's visit to the State Department where he plans to deliver a speech laying out his immediate foreign policy agenda. Amb. Burns says. "I think President Biden's visit to the State Department today is a powerful signal of his support for the United States building up its capacity in diplomacy which we didn't see under four years of Donald Trump."

On Wednesday, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the President of a nation at a pivotal moment, and the world will be watching because all democracies are in this moment together.

The view from Biden's podium at the United States Capitol, looking down over Washington DC's National Mall, will not be pretty.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about the foreign policy challenges facing the Biden administration. Also featuring former National Security Council official Kirsten Fontenrose. 

Find out what President Biden can accomplish internationally and what an activist US policy looks like from Ambassador Nicholas Burns, former Under Secretary of State, Ambassador to NATO and Special Assistant to the President.

When it comes to president-elect Joe Biden’s foreign policy in Asia, Europe and Latin America, he is likely to focus on issues like transatlantic cooperation, U.S.-China relations and immigration. Ambassador Nicholas Burns and WSJ journalists examine the impact a Biden administration could have on U.S. allies around the world. 

Ambassador Nicholas Burns speaks about the foreign policy initiatives he believes the Biden Administration should pursue in the Balkans.