Informing U.S. engagement with the world

The future of the world’s most successful military alliance is in doubt.

Five CFR experts weigh in on the effects of Trump’s Liberation Day on American consumers, businesses, and credibility, and the uncertainty that lays ahead for the global economy and supply chains.

The Trump administration has tightened sanctions and restricted oil shipments to Cuba. The moves are part of a broader pressure campaign aimed at driving significant economic and political change on the communist-led island.

This summer’s tournament will make history by fielding forty-eight national teams for the first time. But as tensions simmer between the United States and several participating countries, questions abound over how the tournament will play out both on and off the field.

China has approved a blueprint to expand its lead in carbon-free energy, in sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s reliance on fossil fuels.

The IMF standard analysis of imbalances puts too much blame on Europe and way too little on China.

Between a reduction in freedoms in the U.S. and an uptick in organized collaboration among autocracies around the world, Freedom House’s most recent Freedom in the World report paints a stark image of the future of democracy in 2026.

Tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime have sharply escalated since late February, heightening regional instability and raising concerns about the risk of a prolonged conflict. Here’s what to know.

Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy Program, recommends that the United States reconsider its assumptions around eventual leadership change in Tehran, revive regime accountability efforts, prepare for opportunistic escalation by proxy groups, and ready itself for renewed nuclear diplomacy.

CFR International Affairs Fellow in National Security Roxanna Vigil argues that the United States should engage early with Colombia’s next administration to signal support for full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords and provide targeted assistance.

The United States cannot out-mine and out-process China. Instead, it should leapfrog China’s dominance by scaling disruptive innovation, recovery, and recycling.

CFR Senior Fellow Robert D. Blackwill outlines the conceptual pillars of five grand strategy schools and analyzes arguments for and against those strategies advanced by their proponents and critics. He then proposes an alternative American grand strategy: resolute global leadership.

The world continues to grow more violent and disorderly. According to CFR’s annual conflict risk assessment, American foreign policy experts are acutely concerned about conflict-related threats to U.S. national security and international stability that are likely to emerge or intensify in 2026. In this report, surveyed experts rate global conflicts by their likelihood and potential harm to U.S. interests and, for the first time, identify opportunities for preventive action.

The primary U.S. response to China’s first-mover advantages in emerging auto technologies has been protection. A smarter strategy would seek to compete by supporting producers and collaborating with allies, while managing security risks.

Assumptions about how a potential conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan would unfold should urgently be revisited. Such a war, far from being insulated, would likely draw in additional powers, expand geographically, and escalate vertically.