Informing U.S. engagement with the world
The Future of American Strategy Starts Now
By Rebecca Lissner
China and the U.S. Agreed to ‘Strategic Stability’ in Beijing. They Don’t Define It the Same Way.
By Zongyuan Zoe Liu
What the Trump-Xi Summit Means for Southeast Asia and South Asia
By Joshua Kurlantzick
Scaling Intelligence: The Security Foundations Beneath America’s AI Ambitions Are Cracking
By Vinh Nguyen
South Africa and the Limits of Identity
By Ebenezer Obadare
Introducing: the Future of American Strategy
Where Does American Strategy Go From Here?
By Rebecca Lissner
The global role of the United States is more contested and uncertain than at any time since World War II. The time is ripe for a fundamental reevaluation of the nation’s strategy.
Between Two Orders
By Charles A. Kupchan
After Hegemony
By Gideon Rose
Starting From Scratch
By Paul B. Stares
Overreach and Retrenchment
By Stephen Sestanovich
Congress Checks Out
By Elliott Abrams
The Coming AI Backlash
By Chris McGuire
Iran’s Policy Ripple Effect
Around the World
CFR analyses and explainers that address global issues and challenges.
As the United States becomes a less reliable trade and security partner, several U.S. allies are seeking to keep an open door with China—but experts caution these moves are neither sustainable nor realistic.
Finding China in the U.S. TIC Data
By Brad W. Setser
Minerals for Regime Security in the DRC
By Michelle Gavin
Even In a Historic Energy Crisis, ASEAN Fails Again
By Joshua Kurlantzick
Mali Is the Linchpin of West Africa—Now It's Under Jihadist Siege
By Ebenezer Obadare
Podcast: What Trump and Xi Didn’t Settle in Beijing
In this episode of The President’s Inbox, James M. Lindsay sits down with Nicholas Burns, the former U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, to unpack key discussion points from the U.S.-China summit, including Taiwan, the Iran war, AI regulation, and the future of U.S.-China relations.
Trending at CFR
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world, raising urgent questions about which countries will set the rules, who will control the most powerful systems, and what the technology could mean for war, diplomacy, and economic competition.
The U.S.-India Relationship
Democracy in the U.S.–India partnership is often dismissed as a bilateral irritant or set aside entirely. Three new CFR memos reframe it as a shared structural challenge, mapping convergence and divergence across global governance, security, and technology.
Interview Series: Working in Foreign Policy
Podcasts
View AllThe Spillover
Every geopolitical event — a war, an election, a new tariff, a technological breakthrough — sends ripples through the global economy. On The Spillover, Sebastian Mallaby and Rebecca Patterson trace those ripples, examining how international developments shape markets, policy, finance, and the future of business.
The Hormuz Shock + Why the Fed is “On Hold”
Publications
CFR publishes reports and papers for the interested public, the academic community, and foreign policy experts.
CFR’s U.S. Government Deal Tracker shows how the government is experimenting with new tools and financing structures to advance a range of strategic sectors, including critical minerals, energy, global logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications, and other technologies.
By Jonathan E. Hillman
A gap in private funding for companies and projects inhibits energy innovation in the United States. This “missing middle” slows or blocks technologies that could help the energy system become more secure, affordable, reliable, and sustainable from advancing through the demonstration and scale-up stages. Recent events have made the missing middle wider.
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.
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.
Compete, Don’t Retreat
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.
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