Can America’s traditional alliances survive the Trump era? That is the question US – Asian alliances specialist Dr Shirley Smith will tackle for Catalyst Trust in Queenstown on July 22.
Dr Smith is the fifth annual Sir Howard Kippenberger Chair at the Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, that Catalyst Trust has had the honour of hosting. She is a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C.
Three years into the presidency of Donald Trump, US foreign policy seems transformed, Dr Smith says. “Reversals on international agreements have left allies unsure of the durability of US global commitments. Even allied assumptions about trade and defence cooperation have been upended, as an impulsive and contrarian president insists on putting ‘America first’.”
Doctor Smith is the author of several books (including Japan Rearmed: the Politics of Military Power and Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China), a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound and to major media outlets in the United States and Asia.
Monday, July 22, 6-7.30 PM, The Rees Hotel Queenstown conference room, $5 koha at door. Please register as seating will be limited, with tickets available through Catalyst Trust’s Eventbrite page from one month prior. Please bring your tickets (printed, emailed or Eventbrite app).