New challenges from China, North Korea, and within the alliance itself raise questions about the future of the long-running partnership between the United States and Japan.
Athit Perawongmetha/Pool/Getty Images
Japan's constitutional debate is about not simply the document's past but also the nation's ability to respond to twenty-first-century challenges.
Promoting greater trilateral cooperation between the U.S.-South Korea and U.S.-Japan alliances would bring Northeast Asia closer to the North Atlantic model of collective defense, but doing so comes with significant risk.
G7 Summit
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Leaders of top industrialized democracies head to France for a meeting that will underscore tensions on trade, globalization, and how to defend democracy.
The Group of Seven serves as a forum to coordinate global policy, but the Trump administration has provoked questions about the group’s cohesion and relevance.
Trade
The trade war between the United States and China has entered a new and dangerous phase.
Tariffs have been applied over the years to protect homegrown industries and target competitors who are seen as using unfair trade practices. They impose costs on both importers and exporters and had been in decline until the recent U.S.-China trade spat.
Since 1949, U.S.-China relations have evolved from tense standoffs to a complex mix of intensifying diplomacy, growing international rivalry, and increasingly intertwined economies.
Military Operations
The U.S. Navy’s dominance of the world’s oceans has made it an indispensable foreign policy tool as well as a guarantor of global trade, but a mix of challenges is raising difficult questions about its future.
Afghanistan
Should the Haqqani network manage a collapse of the Afghan government, Pakistan threatens to make winning the next war more difficult than previous ones.
U.S. officials say that they are close to reaching a deal with the Taliban, but peace in Afghanistan would still not be guaranteed.
Where do the Democratic candidates stand on foreign policy? See how they answered CFR’s questions.
CFR on the Record
The World Economic Update highlights the quarter’s most important and emerging trends. Discussions cover changes in the global marketplace with special emphasis on current economic events and their implications for U.S. policy. This series is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.The World Economic Update highlights the quarter’s most important and emerging trends. Discussions cover changes in the global marketplace with special emphasis on current economic events and their implications for U.S. policy. This series is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.
Nigerian Vice President Osinbajo discusses Nigeria’s economic recovery, investment and growth opportunities, and the recent general elections.
Secretary Carter discusses national security strategies in a rapidly changing world and his legacy as the twenty-fifth Secretary of Defense.
Expert Spotlight
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Explainers
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China
Belt and Road Tracker
This tracker shows how the Belt and Road Initiative has changed countries’ bilateral economic relationships with China over time.
Trade
The Truth About Tariffs
Tariffs have been applied over the years to protect homegrown industries and target competitors who are seen as using unfair trade practices. They impose costs on both importers and exporters and had been in decline until the recent U.S.-China trade spat.
Featured Publications
President Donald J. Trump’s actions have often been rash, ignorant, and chaotic. Yet some of his individual foreign policies are substantially better than his opponents assert.
Japan’s United States–imposed postwar constitution renounced the use of offensive military force, but, Sheila A. Smith shows, a nuclear North Korea and an increasingly assertive China have the Japanese rethinking that commitment—and their reliance on U.S. security.
In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War.