Hello everybody and thank you for tuning into the weekly report.

Can Trump fix our broken foreign policy?

By the time most of you read this column, we will have a new U.S. President, Donald J. Trump

will be inaugurated for his second term today at 11.30 a.m. Eastern time. And many Americans are hopeful that the disastrous

foreign policy of the past four years under Biden will be improved. There is good news and bad news.

First, the good news. It is no surprise that Trump's appointees to foreign policy and national security

positions are to the person's very hawkish on China. However, Trump, as he often does, has defied

conventional wisdom on what his China policy might be by not only inviting Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend the inauguration,

but actually picking up the telephone and having a conversation with his Chinese counterpart.

According to a readout of the call, the two discussed trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and other subjects,

and agreed to remain in regular contact. Winston Churchill is often inaccurately credited with the phrase

jaw-jaw is better than war-war, but nonetheless, it is an accurate statement. It is much better

to engage even with adversaries than to refuse contact and add more sanctions. Those who prefer

sanctions over communications are the true isolationists. On TikTok, the popular application has credited Trump

with preventing the congressional ban from taking effect.

If true, it is another good Trump move

in favor of our constitutional free speech guarantees.

Likewise with Russia, media reports suggest that holding a

conversation with Russia President Vladimir Putin will be among the first things Trump does

as president. That is great news for all of humanity as Biden's dangerous proxy war in Ukraine and refusal to communicate with the

Russian president has brought us to the very edge of a once unimaginable nuclear exchange.

When the end of life on Earth is at stake, it is reckless to ignore the possibility of de-escalation.

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