City and state diplomacy are key to saving U.S. foreign policy

America’s partners around the world must have a serious case of whiplash. The past 20 years have seen U.S. foreign policy ricochet from unilateralism to “leading from behind,” from the isolationism of America First to an attempt to restore our diplomacy and global partnerships all at once. Foreign policy priorities always shift when the White House changes hands, but these swings are now more pronounced and jeopardize the credibility of U.S. commitments abroad. The polarization of American politics now includes our foreign policy.

That’s why one of the consistent sources of America’s strength — our cities and states — should be much more involved in designing and executing foreign policy. Cities and states have less partisan turnover and their leaders generally have less time for political shenanigans: They need to deliver tangible services for constituents. Elevating the role of cities and states in diplomacy — or in other words, decentralizing diplomacy — will build more practical, collaborative, and mutually beneficial diplomatic partnerships.

Cities and states across the U.S. are already engaged in diplomacy. They lead networks dedicated to combating climate change and advancing gender equity, welcome visiting foreign delegations, host major international events and position personnel overseas to support local economic development, tourism, and trade. Most of this activity happens independently, focused on bilateral technical and cultural exchange. 

But without a connection to the U.S. State Department, we are losing an opportunity to leverage these relationships as a tool in our foreign policy. Neglecting the diplomatic channels created by cities and states also sidelines diverse leaders and valuable insight from their respective communities, and misses a chance to broaden the domestic stakes in our foreign policy. As global competitors invest heavily in supporting international engagement by their cities and regional governments, we risk falling further behind.

Over the past five months, the Truman Center for National Policy has convened a Task Force on City & State Diplomacy. This effort, involving more than 30 elected officials, diplomats, academics and members of the Truman National Security Project, proposes actionable recommendations to build a foreign policy informed by inputs from across the country. 

The first step is structural: the State Department should immediately establish an Office of City and State Diplomacy. This office will strengthen communication and collaboration between the State Department and city and state governments on foreign policy priorities. Legislation introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), two co-chairs of the Truman Center Task Force, mandates the creation of this office; but the State Department can and should create the office on its own. This office can also explore embedding foreign service officers within city and state governments, map out how cities and states are already partnering globally, as well as establish a competitive grant program to build the diplomatic capacity of cities and states.

For their part, cities and states should invest in their diplomacy, starting with personnel. Only one American city, Los Angeles, has a Deputy Mayor for International Affairs (also a co-chair of the Truman Center Task Force). She has a team of eight people — robust by U.S. standards. Compare this, for example, to Shanghai, which has approximately 100 personnel dedicated to international engagement. Cities and states should create dedicated international affairs teams and leverage resources within their communities to grow them, by partnering with retired diplomats, academics, or non-profits working internationally.

There’s another key benefit of elevating city and state diplomacy: more diverse voices informing U.S. foreign policy. While the Biden/Harris administration has made progress in hiring professionals who better reflect the diversity of America, when Washington connects to city and state diplomats, a broader set of voices and perspectives informs our policymaking process.  

America’s global engagement is always going to ebb and flow depending on the people in power. By investing in city and state diplomacy we can reduce the costs of that volatility. The diplomacy led by cities and states endures across administrations, in part because it is directly tied to community-level needs.

Designing ways to connect our foreign policy to the pragmatic, solutions-based international engagement led by cities and states provides a moderating influence and demonstrates that American leadership extends well beyond Washington.

Jon Temin is the vice president of Policy & Program at the Truman Center for National Policy.  He was previously a member of the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning Staff.