The Trump Administration has thrown global financial markets into chaos with its massive but on-again, off-again tariffs against America's trading partners, both large and small. The White House has at times framed the tariffs as a revenue generation scheme, at other times framed them as an attempt to return manufacturing to the US, and at still other times has said they are an attempt to gain concessions from other countries on non-economic issues.

What are the goals of the tariffs, how has the administration calculated them, and what are their likely effects on global finance and trade? To answer these questions and others, Dr. Mark Duckenfield, Professor of International Economics at the US Army War College, joins host Bob Hamilton on Chain Reaction.

This week on Chain Reaction, we feature an installment of the Baltic Ways podcast. Host Indra Ekmanis welcomes back professors Margarita Šešelgytė (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) for a roundtable discussion on the first two months of Donald Trump’s second term and the US administration’s impact on the Baltic countries and broader Europe. This episode was recorded on March 14, 2025.

You May Be Interested In

Baltic Roundup | March 2025

A look back on the month’s major political, cultural, and economic events in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Explore more from FPRI’s Baltic Initiative here.

Baltic Ways is a podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI.

The two weeks after Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval Office clash have precipitated drastic shifts in transatlantic relations and the potential trajectory of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Now a possible ceasefire is on the horizon.

This week on the Bear Market Brief podcast, host Aaron Schwartzbaum and Maximilian Hess make sense of the Oval Office blow-up, discuss President Trump’s strategic aims, Russia’s goals, Europe’s response, the US-Ukraine minerals deal, and what might come next with Russia sanctions.

This episode was recorded on March 3, 2025.

For more about economic warfare in the 21st century, be sure to check out Max’s newsletter, Conflict and Credit.

Although NATO has survived - and even thrived - for over 75 years, its future looks more uncertain now than at perhaps any other time. The Alliance confronts not only a resurgent Russia, but serious questions over the US commitment to European security and the ability of European Allies to fill the gap a US withdrawal from Europe would leave.

To discuss these and many other issues surrounding NATO's role in European security, Dr. Rick Landgraf joins host Bob Hamilton on Chain Reaction. A retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel with extensive scholarly and policy experience on NATO, Rick is also the host of a recent FPRI podcast series on the Alliance.

Explore FPRI’s special project: The Ties That Bind | NATO at 75 and Beyond

This episode was recorded on February 28, 2025.

While the military situation in Ukraine continues apace, with grinding Russian assaults gaining ground daily, but at a reduced pace and increasing rate of casualties, the diplomatic situation is changing rapidly. A flurry of US diplomatic activity aimed at ending the war has unnerved Ukrainians and America's allies, who fear the US is preparing to cut a deal with Russia over their heads.

This activity includes a bilateral meeting between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia that excluded America's NATO Allies and Ukraine itself, a series of confusing and contradictory statements from US officials, and an escalating war of words between the US and Ukrainian presidents. To help us make sense of both the military and political situations, Konrad Muzyka, who recently returned from Ukraine, joins Bob Hamilton on this episode of Chain Reaction.

For more military analysis of the Russian invasion of Ukraine check out Konrad’s Ukraine Conflict Monitor.

This episode was recorded on February 20, 2025.

Sometimes lost among analysis of Russian malign actions around the world - from invasions of its neighbors, to sowing chaos in democratic societies, manipulating democratic elections, and weaponizing corruption - is analysis of why Russia does what it does. In other words, what is it about the Russian model of how the world works that causes it to engage in these types of activities, and what narrative justification does it advance?

To discuss these issues, Dr. Olena Snigyr, a Ukrainian scholar with a deep understanding of Russia's motivation and justification for its actions, joins host Bob Hamilton on Chain Reaction.

You Might Be Interested In…

* 📖 The Ideological Agenda of Russian Information Influence in Africa

* ▶️ Russian Influence Operations in the Black Sea Region

* 🎙️ Dark Sarcasm in the Classroom: Patriotic Education in Russia

In this episode of Report in Short, Aaron Schwartzbaum speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Denys Yurchenko, about his recent FPRI report “Russian Strategic Culture and the War in Ukraine."

In the report, Yurchenko observes Russia's intentions through the lens of strategic culture theory and explains why understanding Russian strategic culture can help establish new policies and strategies to defeat Russia and prevent future conflicts.

The author also evaluates Russia's strategic culture and provides recommendations for Ukraine and the West.

This week on The Ties That Bind: NATO at 75 and Beyond:

In this episode we look back at a defining year in NATO history and we look ahead to the challenges and the opportunities positioned to shape the alliance in the coming years and decades.

Featured guests:

* Nina Soljan, Head of NATO Affairs and Security Policy, NATO Headquarters

* Susan Colbourn, Historian; Associate Director of the Program on American Grand Strategy, Duke University

* Sara Moller, Associate Professor, Security Studies Program at Georgetown University; Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security; Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council.

Explore more from the The Ties That Bind: NATO at 75 and Beyond project.