‘Find that commonality’: State Dept. official talks about humility

Withdrawing from Afghanistan. Combating climate change. Working to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Those major actions of the U.S. have shaped the country’s reputation across the globe.

For Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, those are all ongoing events that concern U.S. policymakers.

But the biggest area the U.S. is working to improve: its humility, Trudeau said.

“When we sit across the table, and we talk to our foreign counterparts on things like racial equity and human rights and free and fair elections, we need to acknowledge that the United States is not perfect,” she said.

“Americans believe in many cases that we have the right solution to every problem,” Trudeau said, but the U.S. has “profound” issues that need to be addressed, such as racism, homelessness and the opioid crisis.

“Because only then, can you have that conversation with other countries as equal,” Trudeau said during an interview with the Review-Journal while she was visiting Las Vegas.

Seeking help

It is important that the U.S. work with other countries in strengthening their relationships, so that when the U.S. faces a crisis, it can seek help from other countries.

Trudeau mentioned that after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by a police officer, she was in Belfast in Northern Ireland, a place with divided societies and active terrorist threats. The police constable for the province who successfully reformed the police service told her he could help the U.S. with its issues.

She took him up on it: He is working with colleagues in the U.S., Trudeau said.

Every country has its own politics, its own cultures and different types of government work, she said. It’s impossible to say one style of government is wrong and one is right.

“Democracy is messy. It’s messy. But you know what? It works. We’re proud of it. We’re still refining it. We don’t have all the answers. We are a very young country. And I think people forget that. But democracy works,” Trudeau said.

Keep talking

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said you don’t gain anything by not talking to people even if you don’t agree with them, Trudeau said.

“That’s not what diplomacy is. That’s not how America builds relationships. If you shun, you isolate, you refuse to engage. There’s no winners,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau sat down with the Review-Journal while she was in town to recruit students to work in foreign service and discuss the role of the U.S. in the global climate. Her goal is for the U.S. to have accountability, to make sure Americans know what the country is doing in its foreign affairs while also teaching Americans that “the world doesn’t stop at America’s borders.”

What happens with food security in Africa or what happens in Ukraine, for instance, impacts Americans, she said.

“But you’ve got to talk to people. You have to find that commonality, and then use that built relationship to advance maybe other people’s views on the world, their own thinking,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau hit on many recent global events that concern the U.S., from its withdrawal from Afghanistan to the incarceration of basketball player Brittney Griner in Russia.

Afghanistan

President Joe Biden faced criticisms over the way he withdrew troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of war — a withdrawal that resulted in the death of 13 Americans.

“We airlifted 124,000 people out of Kabul. Movement still continues,” Trudeau said. “Obviously, the situation in Afghanistan is tragic right now with the Taliban in charge and the erosion of rights for women, girls, minorities (and) the crumbling of the economy. And what you’re really seeing now is food insecurity, fuel scarcity.”

America will continue to work with allies and partners to put the Afghan people first and prioritize their well-being, Trudeau said.

“That’s what we need to do,” she said, through helping with immediate needs of food and fuel as well as longer-term needs such as human rights and a representative government.

Some have wondered if there were any gains to be had in Afghanistan as a result of American involvement. The Taliban has taken over again, and restrictions on women’s rights continue to escalate, according to the United Nations Women.

Trudeau thinks there is a silver lining.

“You have a generation of women who are educated, who are literate, who have seen a different future for themselves,” she said.

Ukraine

Afghanistan taught the U.S. how important multilateralism is, and the country is bringing those lessons to its help with Ukraine, Trudeau said.

“The idea that we will coordinate and talk and share information with nations works,” Trudeau said. “You have nations coming together around this conflict, condemning Russia for their seizure of property, for killing civilians, for war crimes.”

Countries across the world are speaking with one voice to say, “this is not acceptable,” she said.

The U.S. is making sure that Ukraine has the necessary tools to end the war. For instance, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Kyiv on Thursday announcing additional foreign military assistance.

“This war will only be ended through talks,” Trudeau said. “It will only be ended through negotiations, and the way that you make Ukraine the strongest so they walk to the table and they can negotiate from a position of strength, is you allow Ukraine to defend itself. And that’s what the United States has been doing. That’s what our allies and partners have been doing consistently.”

Climate change

The U.S. knew climate change was an issue for years, but it took a while for it to enact real change.

Climate change is driving international conflict and changing the way people live and work, she said.

A 2019 study, for instance, found that intensifying climate change will likely increase the risk of violent armed conflict within countries, according to U.S. News. Climate change has influenced between 3 percent and 20 percent of armed conflict risk over the past century, according to the study.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which is the biggest climate legislation signed into law in the U.S., will put the country in a position of strength, Trudeau said.

The next climate conference takes place in Egypt in November, and the U.S. can now “go to the table,” Trudeau said.

“It’s always hard when you tell other countries that you need to do something, and you haven’t done it yourself,” she said. “So that’s something that’s changed a lot. I think, I think for the better, which is great that the United States can say actually, we did put our money where our mouth is.”

Brittney Griner

Griner, who is from Texas, has been at the center of worldwide news since she was detained by Russian customs after they found hashish oil in her luggage. In August, the professional basketball player was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The U.S. is working to represent her and make her case visible, and to make sure Griner’s family has support.

Said Trudeau: “Miss Griner is wrongfully detained. That is the view of the United States government. It was our view before the court case. It is our view now. She needs to be home with her wife. She needs to be home with her family. She needs to be home in the United States.”

Countries have the right to enforce their own laws, but they do not have the right to wrongfully detain someone, Trudeau said. There are different ways the U.S. government works to get Americans home safely, and it is continuing to work on Griner’s case.

“Miss Griner’s position right now is unfortunately being used by Russia as a pawn,” Trudeau said. “We had personnel from the embassy at her court case every time because it is important for the Russians to know that she does not sit in that docket alone, that the United States government is in there as well.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.