Research Library

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.

In the fight against Mexican criminal cartels, social network analysis can predict and map out their alliances and subgroups — using algorithms to predict new connections. In this commentary, Nonresident Scholar in Drug Policy and Mexico Studies Nathan P. Jones and his co-authors outline their recent work in the field.

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?

As the world faces the latest wave of COVID-19, a vaccine produced by health fellow Peter Hotez and his colleague Maria Elena Bottazzi is ready to be deployed. Their CORBEVAX vaccine is inexpensive, effective, safe and easy to store and distribute, they write. Read their article in Scientific American: https://bit.ly/3n28isA

Experts explore how the copper acquisition dilemma could hinder green energy ambitions and constitute the driving force behind a copper supercycle.

"This pandemic and looming economic crisis will affect all of us ... The sooner we relearn how to set aside our differences and unite during this difficult moment, the stronger we will emerge from it," writes former Secretary James A. Baker, III.

Baker Institute director Edward P. Djerejian, former ambassador to Israel and to Syria, appeared on Al-Jazeera's "From Washington" program to discuss the possible consequences of Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance (Arabic): https://youtu.be/J7-xALrG_3s.

Baker Institute director Edward P. Djerejian comments on a welcome moment of nonpartisanship after the April 21, 2018, funeral for former first lady Barbara Bush.