While the U.S. has tried to appear assertive in taking action against China’s trade practices, this strategy has yielded limited results. In a new commentary, fellow Simon Lester summarizes current U.S. policies addressing China’s trade conduct and advocates for the U.S.’ revitalized engagement with the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative recently stepped back from ongoing negotiations on digital trade at the World Trade Organization, citing unsettled domestic policy, and suspended support for digital trade rules in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework too. But if the U.S. wants to be a part of the conversation, it should reengage and help craft rules flexible enough to meet its future domestic policy needs, writes nonresident fellow Simon Lester.
Despite recent claims that “free trade is dead,” fellow Simon Lester explains that America was never close to anything resembling free trade in the first place. Instead, current U.S. trade policy, just like past policy, reflects a messy mix of free market and industrial policy views.
With the recent enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act, the conversation about industrial policy has started up again. Are state-directed economic policies back, and will such initiatives work?
President Kennedy’s dream for joint cooperation between nations was realized with the International Space Station. That dream should not be abandoned, writes George W.S. Abbey, former director of NASA Johnson Space Center.
On July 22, the nation and the world lost a leader who played a critical role in making the Apollo 11 moon landing a reality: Christopher Columbus Kraft. Kraft gained great fame for his creation of the Mission Control Center and as the nation’s first flight director, but this was only the beginning of his many and lasting contributions to the U.S. space program.
George Abbey, the institute’s senior fellow in space policy and the former director of the Johnson Space Center, reflects on the life and legacy of John Glenn, who died Dec. 8 at age 95. Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/2hfRpra
Astronaut Scott Kelly's historic year-long mission at the International Space Station alongside Russian cosmonauts will yield better understanding of the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. But it also serves as an important lesson on how two different nations can work together for the betterment of all humankind, space policy senior fellow George W.S. Abbey writes.
On Monday, three committees in Mexico’s senate — constitutional issues, energy and legislative studies — voted to bring an energy reform bill to the chamber’s floor for debate. The legislation would provide international oil companies the opportunity to participate in profit-sharing contracts and concession-like licenses for energy operations in Mexico, and it is expected to become law by the end of the legislative session Dec. 15.
