A New Collection of CFR Reports Explores the Future of U.S. Strategy in the Western Hemisphere 

In a new collection of reports from the Future of American Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), authors Juan S. Gonzalez, Daniel Runde, Carlos Pascual, Heidi E. Crebo-Rediker, Will Freeman, and Paul Angelo provide expert recommendations for American strategy in the Western Hemisphere.  

“For too long, Washington has anchored its Western Hemisphere policy on the threats the region presents domestically, particularly migration, drugs, and crime,” writes Rebecca Lissner, director of the initiative and senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at CFR, in her introductory article, “What Is the Future of American Strategy in the Western Hemisphere?” She stresses that those are “real and important challenges—but the future of American strategy must take a broader view of U.S. interests in the region.” 

Each report offers a different perspective on how the United States can benefit by leveraging expanded partnerships in the Western Hemisphere. “As it stands today, the United States is losing economic and technological ground to China despite being the region’s preeminent military power,” Lissner writes. “The ideas contained in these essays show how Washington can reverse this trend and consolidate the regional base of American power.” 

Greater North America: Rethinking the Geography of U.S. Security and Prosperity 

“U.S. policy is being pulled in two opposing directions. On the one hand, the United States seeks to advance U.S. leadership and foreign policy priorities around the world, while on the other, persistent instability in the Western Hemisphere pulls Washington’s attention and resources back toward its own borders,” writes Juan S. Gonzalez, resident fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute. “U.S. strategy should, therefore, prioritize creating stronger economic and security partners across a Greater North America, spanning Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Caribbean-facing countries of South America.” 

An Economic Shield of the Americas: How Washington Can Counter China and Build a More Prosperous Hemisphere 

“Deeply integrated supply chains connect the United States with Canada and Mexico, while the wider region possesses the energy, critical minerals, agricultural capacity, and technological and industrial bases that the U.S. economy will require over the coming decades,” writes Daniel Runde, author of The American Imperative. “The Economic Shield would harness these advantages, using American finance, technology, and private investment to ensure that the region’s most important economic infrastructure is not shaped by China.” 

The Missing Pillar of U.S. Strategy: Forging a New Energy Partnership for the Americas 

“The Western Hemisphere should be envisioned as an integrated whole, through which energy, critical minerals, and AI technology pass via interconnected supply chains,” writes Carlos Pascual, senior vice president of geopolitics and international affairs at S&P Global. “The best way to accomplish this goal, and to rebuild trust in U.S. policy, is through concrete, bankable deals that generate commercial value and high-value jobs for the United States and its regional partners.” 

Mines to Markets: A Critical Minerals Strategy for the Western Hemisphere 

“The Western Hemisphere can serve as a more resilient ‘mines to markets’ supply chain but only if the United States treats resource-rich countries in the region as development and industrial partners rather than just sources of raw materials,” writes Heidi E. Crebo-Rediker, CFR senior fellow. “To be successful, the United States should adopt a strategy of competitive attraction to support U.S. and allied company investment.” 

A Path to Partnership With Venezuela: How the United States Can Help Turn a Dictatorship Into a Democracy  

“If the United States can demonstrate, in Venezuela, that it can help a struggling country become democratic and prosperous once more, it could regain some of this lost standing,” write Will Freeman, CFR fellow for Latin America studies, and Paul Angelo, managing director at McLarty Associates and senior fellow for human rights and U.S. foreign policy at Harvard Kennedy School. “But if autocracy and corruption prevail under U.S. tutelage, such an outcome will send exactly the opposite message.”