Candidates Answer CFR’s Questions

CFR invited the presidential candidates challenging President Trump in the 2020 election to articulate their positions on twelve critical foreign policy issues. Candidates‘ answers are posted exactly as they are received. 

This project was made possible in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York

Responded

Joe Biden (D)

Bernie Sanders (D)

Michael Bloomberg (D)

Cory Booker (D)

Steve Bullock (D)

Pete Buttigieg (D)

Julian Castro (D)

John Delaney (D)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Kamala Harris (D)

Seth Moulton (D)

Beto O’Rourke (D)

Deval Patrick (D)

Tim Ryan (D)

Joe Sestak (D)

Elizabeth Warren (D)

Bill Weld (R)

Marianne Williamson (D)

Andrew Yang (D)

Questions

1. How, if at all, should China’s treatment of the Uighurs and the situation in Hong Kong affect broader U.S. policy toward China?

2. Would you rejoin the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)? What changes to the existing agreement, if any, would you require before agreeing to rejoin the accord?

3. Would you sign an agreement with North Korea that entailed partial sanctions relief in exchange for some dismantling of its nuclear weapons program but not full denuclearization?

4. What, if any, steps would you take to counter Russian aggression against Ukraine?

5. Would you commit to the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of your first term, or would you require certain conditions be met before doing so?

6. Given the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the civil war in Yemen, what changes, if any, would you make to U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia?

7. Do you support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, if so, how would you go about trying to achieve it?

8. What, if any, additional steps should the United States take to remove Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela?

9. By 2050, Africa will account for 25 percent of the world’s population according to projections by the United Nations. What are the implications of this demographic change for the United States, and how should we adjust our policies to anticipate them?

10. Under what circumstances, if any, would you support the United States joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), formerly the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

11. How would you discourage the proliferation of coal-fired power plants in developing countries?

12. What has been the greatest foreign policy accomplishment of the United States since World War II? What has been the biggest mistake?