Research Library

Fellow Joe Barnes looks back, and ahead, at the impact of President Obama's foreign policies.

This compilation of briefs addresses a range of issues the new administration will face in the coming years.  “It is our hope that these Baker Institute studies will prove to be useful starting points for the new administration to develop comprehensive, forward-looking solutions," said Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian.

NAFTA has become increasingly more controversial in the United States. U.S. firms and workers are best served by an examination of the agreement to improve and modernize the relationship and make it more equitable to all partners. This will benefit America’s economy, and that of Canada and Mexico.

Shifts in U.S. economic policy toward China could provide leverage on other issues and, at the beginning of a new administration, usefully set a tone of cooperation.

Although the energy challenge is significant and requires a long-term view to be successfully addressed, long-term goals can be sustainably achieved through fundamental research and development.

The Trump administration should push for formal congressional authorization of both the ongoing operations against ISIS and any significant increase in U.S. military action in Syria, writes fellow Joe Barnes.

With growing competition from abroad, the U.S. must reform its fiscal policy to reduce debt, maximize economic efficiency — including minimizing the distortions caused by the tax system — and maintain its areas of competitive advantage.

A multi-pronged policy that engages both secular and nonviolent Islamist parties may produce a foreign policy agenda that more successfully advances short- and long-term U.S. objectives in the Middle East, writes research scholar A.Kadir Yildirim.

In this brief, the authors explain why Israeli-Palestinian negotiations failed in 2013, and outline the elements necessary to relaunch the talks and reach a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the two-state solution.

U.S. policy should facilitate and support investment in Latin America’s oil and gas sectors, which would contribute to energy security and support economic integration with Mexico and Latin America, writes fellow Francisco J. Monaldi.