Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that the United States must rebuild trust with its allies to restore its global leadership, arguing that international relationships have been damaged by a lack of trustworthiness and understanding.
“We have to restore our trustworthiness in order to restore our leadership,” Clinton said during a conversation with a senior United Arab Emirates official at Forbes and Know Your Value’s 30/50 Summit in New York City on Friday.
Clinton spoke alongside Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of State at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a panel titled “Across Borders and Generations: Women Redefining Global Leadership.”
The discussion explored the challenges facing international diplomacy, the importance of maintaining dialogue during conflict and the role of trust in navigating an increasingly uncertain world.
The conversation capped the fifth annual 30/50 Summit, a gathering founded by Brzezinski’s Know Your Value initiative and Forbes. The event brings together influential women across generations to advance women’s leadership and economic empowerment. The summit typically takes place in Abu Dhabi, but it was moved to New York this year amid regional instability. Organizers expressed their hope to return to the UAE next year.
Moderated by Brzezinski, founder of Know Your Value and co-host of “Morning Joe” and Huma Abedin, vice chair of the 30/50 Summit and MS NOW contributor, the discussion opened with a question about what gives the panelists hope—and what keeps them up at night.
For Clinton, the answer was a constant tension between optimism and concern.
“I get hopeful and think, OK, we’re gonna figure this out, and then something happens which you know really disturbs me and concerns my thinking about whether we’re going to be able to manage what’s going on in the world,” she said.
Clinton pointed to conflicts in the Middle East and the challenges of governing artificial intelligence as examples of issues requiring greater international cooperation.
“This is a time for people to actually begin to work together and do the hard thinking about how we’re going to manage our future,” she said.
Al Kaabi reflected on the recent attacks on the UAE, describing a conflict her country did not choose and the fear experienced by families living there. She said the country’s diverse population, representing approximately 200 nationalities, remained united through the crisis.
“Our skies were, you know, filled with missiles. More than 3000 missiles. Families were scared,” she said.
For Al Kaabi, the experience reinforced the importance of trust, solidarity and keeping diplomatic channels open, even when countries disagree.
“I hope that we continue the dialog. We keep our diplomatic channels open. That we remain in the room when there is someone that we disagree with, no matter what,” she said.
Clinton agreed, emphasizing the importance of understanding the experiences of people facing conflict around the world and drawing lessons from the UAE’s response.
“We need to have that sense of solidarity again in order to deal with all of this,” she said.
The conversation then turned to America’s role in international affairs. Asked by Abedin what responsible American leadership should look like today, Clinton said the United States under President Donald Trump was not demonstrating the trustworthiness or understanding necessary to sustain its relationships with allies and other nations.
She argued that restoring America’s standing would require leaders to put the public interest ahead of personal financial and partisan political interests.
“We’ve got to get back to a mindset about what national security, national interests, and national values actually means, and how we begin once again to live better,” Clinton said.
Clinton also connected America’s international influence to the strength of its democracy at home, pointing to political divisions and affordability concerns ahead of the midterm elections.
“We need to elect leaders again who are going to call the best from us, not the worst from us. Who are going to bring people together, not continually divide us. Because if you’re talking about America’s position in the world, it starts at home,” she said.
She acknowledged that economic pressures remain a major concern for Americans, particularly those struggling to afford everyday necessities.
“If you can’t afford groceries or rent or you know pay for your health care, I mean that that has you in the grip, and you need leadership that can begin to make life once again, you know, more affordable and more livable for you,” she said.
But Clinton argued that the stakes extend beyond the economy to the future of American democracy and the country’s role in the world. She expressed hope that the midterm elections could mark the beginning of a broader effort to restore accountability and rebuild America’s international standing.
Brzezinski asked Clinton if she believed American democracy is resilient enough to withstand this moment.
“Yes, if we begin to turn it around,” said Clinton. “But you got to stop the damage before you can reverse it, and we need to stop the damage in the midterm elections and begin to try to reverse it, and I’m very confident.”
Al Kaabi, meanwhile, urged the United States to recognize the UAE as a partner in shaping decisions about the region’s future, rather than viewing the Middle East solely through the lens of conflict. She highlighted the region’s ambitions in artificial intelligence, technology, culture and the arts.
“We’re a strong partner, and what we hope from any partner is to be part of the decision making,” she said.
The panelists also discussed the challenges posed by artificial intelligence and disinformation. Al Kaabi said leaders must communicate quickly, truthfully and consistently, even when they do not have all the answers.
“Trust takes decades, and trust doesn’t take a comms manager to come. It takes a leader who is consistent and trustworthy to be transparent with their people and to speak based on their values and universal values that we all recognize,” she said.
Clinton called for global cooperation to establish safeguards for AI, comparing the need for international coordination to earlier efforts to address nuclear weapons.
“I have a very, very strong conviction that we have got to act on a global level to govern AI … If the minister and I were weaving a magic wand, we would be meeting right now at the UN or somewhere in the world with representatives from all the major countries to come up with a global governance scheme for AI before it governs us,” she said.
Clinton stressed the importance of voting in the upcoming midterm elections and not sitting this one out.
“We have to prove that America is stepping up again and we want to elect the kind of government that we need at this point in our history,” she said.
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