Kamala Harris is known abroad for her personal touch but tough talk

Like most vice presidents, Kamala Harris was not given much runway on foreign policy. President Joe Biden prided himself on his international expertise and relished his rapport with global leaders. But in the role she did fill, Harris made an impression.

In more than 30 interviews with officials on four continents, including foreign heads of state, senior diplomats and activists who have personally interacted with her, a consistent picture emerges. Harris can be many things at once: warm but steely on occasion; authoritative but personable.

She has represented the United States frequently during trips to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and has met with more than 150 world leaders. And she has attended three Munich Security Conferences -- an annual staple for top-level foreign policy officials to meet and set the Western defense agenda. In recent months, she has also become more directly involved in discussions with global leaders on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

At home, she has struck a stronger tone on the plight of Palestinians than Biden, while sticking with his general stance on Israel's right to defend itself. In what amounted to her debut on the world stage as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee this past week, Harris declared after meeting in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she would "not be silent" about the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

What foreign policy remit she has had has been focused on Central America. Biden tasked her with working to improve conditions there -- such as by fighting poverty and corruption -- to discourage families from fleeing to the U.S.-Mexico border. As illegal crossings at the border soared, she has been criticized by Republicans and some Democrats who say she should have been more involved in enforcement efforts; her team argues that was not part of her role.

Foreign policy is a crowded field in any administration, with the secretary of state and the national security adviser playing day-to-day roles, and, according to some foreign officials, Harris did not emerge as a key point person for global leaders.

Still, the consensus among foreign officials and diplomats is that Harris has a firm grip on international affairs.

"She is a competent and experienced politician who knows exactly what she is doing and has a very clear idea of her country's role, of developments in the world, and of the challenges we face," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this past week while speaking to the news media.

A senior Israeli politician, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to freely relay impressions about interacting with Harris, said she could be scripted when delivering talking points but would noticeably come alive when moving away from her prepared remarks, noting that she was probably at her best when being spontaneous in meetings with global dignitaries.

Nice, Unless Otherwise Necessary

Harris does have a steelier side that she deploys when needed.

In 2021, she took the lectern at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura in Guatemala City to deliver a blunt message to migrants hoping to reach the United States: "Do not come."

Less noticed were her comments supporting an anti-corruption office that the president of Guatemala at the time, Alejandro Giammattei, had verbally attacked for weeks.

"We will look to root out corruption wherever it exists," Harris, a former prosecutor, said during a news conference while standing only feet from Giammattei.

She also made a point to meet with anti-corruption activists. "It was a difficult time to make the U.S. government understand that the way to stop corruption was to address profound democratic backpedaling," said Claudia Samayoa, a prominent Guatemalan human rights defender. But she said Harris was an exception and came across as very knowledgeable.

Still, only a month after Harris' trip, the country's top anti-corruption prosecutor was fired and fled the country.

Harris jumped in again as part of a Biden administration effort two years later to try to ensure that Giammattei respected election results.

Amid signs that his allies wanted to disrupt the handover of power to the newly elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, Harris called Giammattei twice to tell him that the White House was watching closely, according to two senior U.S. officials, and later sent her national security adviser to deliver a strong message that the United States was running out of patience.

The warnings and moves by the State Department, which imposed visa restrictions on more than 100 members of the Guatemalan Congress for undermining democracy and the rule of law, appeared to have an effect.

Arévalo was eventually able to take office and made a point of meeting with Harris in March when he visited Washington.

Harris has been prepared to displease people to focus on issues she cares about. Last year, British officials were putting the finishing touches on the agenda for a summit in London focused on the long-term safety risks of artificial intelligence, such as national security dangers, working with the U.S. National Security Council, according to a senior British official involved.

But then there was a snag: Harris, who was designated as Biden's point person on AI, wanted more emphasis put on short-term risks -- such as job losses and discrimination, according to British and U.S. officials involved in the conference. She made those risks central to her speech on the first day of the summit, frustrating British officials.

Her team also appeared concerned that the summit displayed an overly cozy relationship between policymakers and Big Tech, and insisted on allowing civil society groups such as AI Now, a critic of Big Tech, to join policymakers and executives in a closed-door session, the officials said.

The Smoother-Over

Harris has, at times, been sent on missions to patch things up with slighted allies.

She was confronted by an early diplomatic test in the fall of 2021: Relations between the United States and France plummeted after the U.S. struck a deal to help Australia develop submarines, snatching a building order away from the French.

Harris, who had periodic lunches with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss foreign policy, was quickly off to Paris to make good with President Emmanuel Macron.

Harris met for hours with Macron, but she stayed in Paris for five days, which the French appreciated, according to a diplomat and U.S. officials. She toured the Pasteur Institute -- a research facility where her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, once worked -- before shopping at a famous cookware store, E. Dehillerin.

"I just want to buy a pot," she told reporters before asking employees questions, in French, about the materials.

Lean Into Levity

Harris has combined serious state business with personal connections.

In the spring of 2023, she visited several African nations to bolster collaboration with them amid China's growing influence on the continent. One stop was Zambia.

Harris' grandfather and aunt had lived there, and she visited them as a child. On this trip, she visited their onetime home, and was met by several Zambians whose relatives knew her family, including Nankhonde Kasonde-van den Broek.

"I was expecting to meet somebody more formal," Kasonde-van den Broek said. "And I met a warm, friendly, interested person."

Harris sometimes relies on humor on the global stage, according to several foreign officials who used the adjectives "funny" and "witty" to describe her. She is also known to allow herself the occasional silliness that endears her to her fans but is criticized by her detractors. One such moment came last month in Switzerland, where she was representing the United States at a 92-country conference on Ukraine and took the time to show a local Swiss politician a photograph of some chickens on her phone.

During an aperitif reception, Harris told the politician, Michèle Blöchliger, that she was surprised to see the chickens roaming freely rather than in coops, so she took pictures from her motorcade, Blöchliger recalled in an interview.

"She told me she'd never experienced something like this before -- to ride to an international conference and see free-range chickens," Blöchliger said, adding that she was happy that someone in so high a position noticed such things.

Harris also occasionally relies on her love of food and cooking to bolster relationships with foreign leaders.

In 2023, she hosted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines for breakfast in Washington. A key topic of discussion that morning was China's claims on the South China Sea, according to Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippines ambassador to Washington, who was present.

Despite the heavy topic of defense being the main course, Harris found a moment to tell Marcos about her love of adobo, a popular Philippine dish made with marinated meat or fish.

Marcos directed the embassy's chef to deliver her adobo the way he would eat it, Romualdez said.

Women in Focus

Harris has consistently organized meetings with women's groups during her travels to Latin America, Asia and Africa, according to multiple interviews with people who were present.

In 2022 in South Korea -- where working women struggle against expectations that their focus should be on taking care of children and household duties -- female leaders she met at the U.S. ambassador's residence were moved by her visit and by her message.

"I was most impressed when she said that a society that helps its women fulfill their dreams and pursue their professional careers without discrimination is an advanced society," said Baik Hyun Wook, who at the time was the head of the Korean Medical Women's Association and attended the gathering.

That same year in Mexico, while on an immigration-focused visit, she met with a small group of professional women. "She wanted to understand the difficulties that women in Mexico faced," said Michelle Ferrari, regional president of the Women Economic Forum, who was present.

Odile Cortés, an entrepreneur who also participated, said most people thought Harris had come to Mexico only to "scold" Mexico's president over migration. But in her meeting with the women, Harris sat quietly, taking notes and asking detailed questions, Cortés said.

"She wasn't trying to lecture us about anything," she added, "but rather truly listen to what we had to say."