Foreign Policy

Working to keep America safe from dangerous threats and restore our leadership in the world.

I believe we must work to keep America safe from dangerous threats and restore our position of leadership in the world.  We can do so in a way that encourages partnership and cooperative solutions, while protecting America's interests, creating American jobs and producing results for all people — from the laid-off auto worker in Moraine, to the patriotic Ohio families whose courageous loved ones are risking their lives for our country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

• In the Senate, Lee will work to assist President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton in their efforts to deploy all the tools in America’s arsenal — diplomacy, strength, intelligence, the appeal of our values and ideas, as well as our military — to make America safer and more secure and prevent a new generation of terrorists from growing powerful enough to harm us or our allies.
• Lee has real experience trying to make foreign relations work to improve Ohio's economy. As Ohio’s Director of Development, Lee oversaw 14 overseas offices tasked with creating export markets for Ohio products and bringing jobs to Ohio from other countries. Lee has met extensively with international business leaders to convince them to invest and reinvest in Ohio. He led an international trade mission on Ohio’s behalf to Japan, and traveled to Russia to negotiate with one of the world’s largest steel companies to invest in Ohio. Those discussions are continuing today. Lee's experience has made it clear that while international trade can benefit Ohio, we must make sure trade agreements export Ohio goods, not Ohio jobs.
• Lee supports the Obama Administration’s efforts to responsibly end the war in Iraq and defeat al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks around the world. He believes that instead of sending additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, we should focus our efforts on training tens of thousands of new Afghan forces and encouraging the development of a broad-based coalition government with the legitimacy to lead. US efforts to stop Iran and North Korea from developing or acquiring nuclear weapons are a top priority for Lee. He also backs the Obama Administration’s efforts to strongly support the security of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.