• RARE EARTHChina and Rare-Earth Elements: Is Trump Blinking on Tariffs?

    By Ajey Lele

    On 2 April 2025, President Trump announced a significant shift in the US trade policy, imposing tariffs on multiple countries, with special emphasis on China. In response, on 4 April 2025, China placed export restrictions on REEs, which are also known as rare metals.

  • CHINA WATCHBookshelf: How China Won Over America, and Then Lost It

    By John West

    In the four decades before 2010, the United States maintained a policy of engagement with China. But since 2010, the US–China relationship has given way to competition and disengagement. China’s formerly positive image among the American public has taken a nosedive.

  • WATER SECURITYOvershadowed by Border Dispute, India-Pakistan Water Security Risks Grow

    By Neeraj Singh Manhas

    Glacial meltwater accounts for a significant portion of annual flows in the Indus River Basin, but as glaciers retreat due to climate change, this flow is decreasing, leading to water scarcity. Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to reduction in Indus River Basin flows: it relies on the Indus River for more than 90 percent of its water, and is already grappling with severe water shortages.

  • NEW INTERNATIONAL TRADE NORMSU.S.-UK Trade Deal Illustrates Trump’s Shifting Trade Policy

    By Inu Manak

    The U.S.-UK trade agreement is Trump’s first since his “Liberation Day” tariff announcements. It could be a possible template for other nations seeking a deal, but it could also have major implications for global trading norms.

  • MEXICAN CARTELSTrump Pick to Run DEA Could Challenge America’s Already Tense Relations with Mexico

    By Tim Golden

    In 22 years at the agency, Terry Cole never rose to its top ranks, but he is a vocal supporter of the president’s goal of going after Mexican officials who are complicit with drug cartels.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHWashington Silences Its Own Voice

    By Nana Gongadze and Bret Schafer

    The Trump administration’s decision to close the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) aids authoritarian propaganda and interference efforts. In many countries, USAGM outlets are among the few sources presenting uncensored, fact-based reporting hampered neither by authoritarian government nor oligarchic censorship or influence. They serve US interests by challenging authoritarians and by giving the people these leaders seek to oppress or influence access to unbiased news and other information.

  • DEEP SEA MININGDeep Sea Mining is the New Front in Pacific Competition

    Recent developments reflect the rise of renewed great-power resource rivalry and the race for critical minerals, which underpin digital infrastructure and green energy.

  • 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.

  • TRADE WARSTrump’s Obsession with Trade Deficits Has No Basis in Economics. And It’s a Bad Reason for Tariffs

    By Nigel Driffield

    President Donald Trump believes that if a country has a trade surplus with the U.S. it is somehow playing unfairly and needs to be dealt with. But anyone who understands the basics of international economics will recognize the fallacy in both of these beliefs. That the U.S. has a trade deficit is not a sign that the rest of the world is “ripping it off.” It is a reflection of an affluent society with relatively high wages buying products from countries that can produce them more cheaply. Trump’s tariffs will hurt Americans first – basic international economics is clear on that too.

  • COMMON-SENSE NOTES // By Idris B. OdunewuNo Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism

    The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.

  • 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.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONCan Europe Defend Itself Against a Nuclear-Armed Russia?

    By Christina Pazzanese

    National security expert details what’s being done, what can be done as U.S. appears to rethink decades-long support. Regarding the U.S. nuclear umbrella, which has covered Europe since the 1950s, Richard Hooker says: “Is it reliable? I wouldn’t think so. If Putin were to threaten or actually use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine or, let’s say in Estonia, would the administration respond with nuclear threats of its own? Personally, I have my doubts.”

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTION“A Catastrophic Blow”: U.S. Shuts Unit Investigating War Crimes in Ukraine

    By Ray Furlong

    Offering more support for Russia’s policy goals, the Trump administration has cut all funding for efforts to document and gather evidence on Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine. Experts described the administration’s move as a “a catastrophic blow” to efforts to document war crimes and bring people to justice.

  • TARRIFSCongress: Retake Control of Tariffs and Let Businesses Get Back to the “Vision Thing”

    By James Wallar

    The Trump administration’s recent tariff actions are undermining congressional authority and sowing chaos for U.S. businesses. Lawmakers should reassert their constitutional power to correct course.