“The goal is good policy that makes America the partner of choice,” said Representative Brian Mast, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Does what we’re doing make a nation say or a region say, ‘Those are the ones that we want to work with?’”
Mast, a Republican, spoke alongside the committee’s ranking Democratic member, Representative Gregory Meeks, on Tuesday at the “Passing the Baton 2025” event at the United States Institute of Peace, which was co-hosted by the Atlantic Council. Every four years, the event brings together leaders from both parties to mark the peaceful transfer of power—in this case from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump—and the bipartisan nature of US foreign policy. “Relationships are important. We’ve got to show up, we’ve got to be there,” Meeks said. “That’s what China is doing. If we don’t do that, China will fill a vacuum.”
Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe moderated the Mast and Meeks conversation, while Atlantic Council Board of Directors Executive Vice Chair Stephen J. Hadley moderated a conversation between the outgoing and incoming national security advisors, and GeoEconomics Center Senior Director Josh Lipsky appeared on a panel about economics and trade.
Find more highlights from the US House members’ conversation below.
Approaches to foreign affairs
- Mast described his approach to his role of chairman as ensuring that “every diplomat and every dollar puts America first.”
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