United States Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Ghana on March 26 to kick off her weeklong visit to three countries in Africa at a unique time in U.S.-Africa relations. Her visit comes in the wake of the progress achieved at the second-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, held in December 2022. The summit was the first…

In December 2021, President Biden’s administration hosted the first Summit for Democracy, which resulted in the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal that encompassed about a dozen different programs that the United States government aspired to support with $424.4 million. From March 29-30, the U.S. will partner with countries on diverse continents to co-host a second…

Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in global supply chains. Changes to consumer demands, labor shortages, and other structural factors have created a perfect storm of bottlenecks and back-orders. Families and businesses around the world are feeling the impact, as the cost of consumer goods—food, energy, and everything in between—is rising. Russia’s…

A trade agreement is much more than a text; it is a legal and institutional framework that lays the foundations for integration among the countries that sign it. It opens opportunities to prompt competitiveness, growth, and inclusive development, as well as boosts exchange dynamics beyond trade—in culture, education, and shared principles and values. Nevertheless, without…

Manufacturers of all sizes, from small, family-owned and -operated businesses, to multinational enterprises, are counting on the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) to strengthen their supply chains and help them grow. The USMCA can be a model for how the U.S., Mexico, and Canada can capitalize on our close regional ties, but it will require all…

Unlike many of the other countries in the world, the United States is lucky to be surrounded by two vast oceans and two friendly neighbors. Thus, a sizeable portion of the American public has always had isolationist tendencies. We stayed out of the Second World War for over two years despite images of Nazi control…

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has under review a draft revision of its 2012 resilience policy for fragile and conflict environments. As reported in the OECD’s “States of Fragility 2022,” fragility has been rising in recent years and is present across a diversity of country contexts. Of the 60 countries identified as fragile,…

  NATAN SACHS Two years into the Biden administration’s term, Middle East-focused scholars in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings offer thoughts on some of the policy areas the Biden administration has dealt with thus far. The Middle East has fit awkwardly within Biden’s global priorities. Biden has sought to focus U.S. attention to other…