• ENERGY SECURITYThe Trump Administration Says It Wants a “Nuclear Renaissance.” These Actions Suggest Otherwise.

    By Gautama Mehta and Katie Myers

    For nuclear advocates, it’s an open question whether the Trump administration’s energy officials recognize the scale of the effort that would be required to achieve their purported ambition for a nuclear revival. In fact, some of the actions the administration has taken, such as tariffs and a shake-up at the Tennessee Valley Authority, could be getting in the way of such  revival.

  • TRADE WARSThe U.S. Trade Deficit: How Much Does It Matter?

    By CFR.org Editors

    President Trump has made reducing U.S. trade deficits a priority, but economists disagree over how much they matter and what to do about them.

  • DISASTERSAs Wildfires Intensify, Utilities Want Liability Protections. But Then Who Pays?

    By Alex Brown

    As climate change drastically increases the frequency and severity of wildfires, power companies say they’re facing growing risk for payouts that could bankrupt them or require massive rate hikes on customers.

  • U.S. MANUFACTURINGTrying to “Bring Back” Manufacturing Jobs Is a Fool’s Errand

    By Norbert Michel and Jerome Famularo

    Advocates of recent populist policies like to focus on the supposed demise of manufacturing that occurred after the 1970s, but that focus is misleading. The populists’ bleak economic narrative ignores the truth that the service sector has always been a major driver of America’s success, for decades, even more so than manufacturing. Trying to “bring back” manufacturing jobs, through harmful tariffs or other industrial policies, is destined to end badly for Americans. It makes about as much sense as trying to “bring back” all those farm jobs we had before the 1870s.

  • U.S. MANUFACTURINGTrump Touts Manufacturing While Undercutting State Efforts to Help Factories

    By Tim Henderson

    Tariffs, spending cuts and the winding down of state-based manufacturing aid could hurt small factories.

  • CYBERSECURITYNeed for National Information Clearinghouse for Cybercrime Data, Categorization of Cybercrimes: Report

    There is an acute need for the U.S. to address its lack of overall governance and coordination of cybercrime statistics. A new report recommends that relevant federal agencies create or designate a national information clearinghouse to draw information from multiple sources of cybercrime data and establish connections to assist in criminal investigations.

  • DATA PROTECTIONProtecting Americans’ Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries

    Last week DOJ took steps to move forward with implementing a program to prevent China, Russia, Iran, and other foreign adversaries from using commercial activities to access and exploit U.S. government-related data and Americans’ sensitive personal data to commit espionage and economic espionage, conduct surveillance and counterintelligence activities, and otherwise undermine our national security.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSA Guide to the 4 Minerals Shaping the World’s Energy Future

    By Jake Bittle

    Ending our dependence on fossil fuels and adopting this new, greener technology requires a whole lot of metal. Especially important are rare earth elements and lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. Just as the 20th century was defined by the geography of oil, the 21st century could be defined by the new geography of metal.

  • DEPORTATIONSFor-Profit Immigration Detention Expands as Trump Accelerates His Deportation Plans

    By Amanda Hernández

    The Trump administration is moving quickly to dramatically expand the nation’s capacity for detaining immigrants who do not have legal authorization to be in the United States. States may not be able to limit or block new contracts with private companies.

  • CRITICAL MINERALSThe Potential Impact of Seabed Mining on Critical Mineral Supply Chains and Global Geopolitics

    The potential emergence of a seabed mining industry has important ramifications for the diversification of critical mineral supply chains, revenues for developing nations with substantial terrestrial mining sectors, and global geopolitics.

  • TRADE WARSIn Trade War with the U.S., China Holds a Lot More Cards Than Trump May Think − in Fact, It Might Have a Winning Hand

    By Linggong Kong

    While Trump’s tariffs will inevitably hurt parts of the Chinese economy, Beijing appears to have far more cards to play this time around, compared to the tariff conflict between the two countries during Trump’s first term in the White Houser. It has the tools to inflict meaningful damage on U.S. interests – and perhaps more importantly, Trump’s all-out tariff war is providing China with a rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity.

  • TRADE WARSTrump Thinks Tariffs Can Bring Back the Glory Days of U.S. Manufacturing. Here’s Why He’s Wrong

    By James Scott

    Trump’s “liberation day” tariffshave one thing in common – they are being applied to goods only.They are the perfect example of Trump’s peculiar focus on trade in goods and, by extension, his nostalgic but outdated obsession with manufacturing.Trump’s thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing,and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.But nostalgia is not a sensible basis for forming economic policy.

  • CYBERSECURITYIsraeli Startup Raises $50m to Stop App-Based Cyberattacks

    By Yulia Karra

    Oligo Security’s platform allows for quick identification of vulnerabilities in cloud-native software before they are exploited by third parties.

  • TARRIF WARSThe Trade Deficit Isn’t an Emergency – It’s a Sign of America’s Strength

    By Tarek Alexander Hassan

    A trade deficit is often viewed as a problem. And yes, the U.S. trade deficit is both large and persistent. But far from a national emergency, this persistent deficit is actually a sign of America’s financial and technological dominance. Trump’s extreme tariffs, rather than reviving U.S. manufacturing, will erode the very pillars of the country’s economic dominance, at a steep cost to American firms and families.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONWhy Was Russia Spared from Trump’s Tariffs?

    By Simon Saradzhyan

    Import tariffs, which President Donald Trump slapped on about 90 countries on 2 April, had some surprise omissions. One of them has turned out be Russia, which made many wonder why. Trump’s decision to spare Russia has not been lost on Russia’s ruling elite. Some top members of that elite could not help gloating over how some of America’s traditional allies were reeling from Trump’s tariffs, while Russia was untouched.