Dollars and Diplomacy: Biden’s International Economic Strategy

Recent years have changed how America is approaching the global economy. Waves of dissatisfaction with globalization, technological change, and financial imbalances have crested, transforming policy and public opinion in the United States. That dissatisfaction is also driving international calls to reform the policies and institutions governing global economic relations. In response, the Biden administration is pursuing an ambitious agenda. To reduce dependence on foreign competitors and strengthen supply chains, it is steering industrial policies in sectors from semiconductors to clean energy. It has declined to pursue major trade deals that involve market access while stepping up antitrust activity at home, framing both actions as efforts to strengthen America’s middle class. And in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s technological rise, the United States is deploying an array of coercive economic measures, including financial sanctions and export controls.

These policies indicate a shift in America’s approach to the global economy, its relationship with foreign trade, and its willingness to deploy economic leverage to achieve political and strategic ends. What impact is this shift having on the United States, countries around the world, and key international institutions? Is this approach a welcome new direction for foreign economic policy? How does it affect the global trend of countries bringing security considerations to their economic relationships? 

Join Ashley J. Tellis in conversation with Jason Furman, Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, and Mary Lovely for a discussion of how America’s foreign economic policy is changing, its global impact, and its implications for the near future.