American Statecraft Program

Can a Democratic Congress constrain Trump on foreign policy?

Statecraft Visiting Fellow @JenniferHWhite discusses how Democratic majorities could check the President, and which structural limitations might hinder their efforts.

carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/…

New Episode of Pivotal States: Should America Want a Stronger Japan?

On this episode of Pivotal States, @CChivvis sits down with Yuki Tatsumi, a senior director at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security. They examine the U.S.–Japan alliance, Japan’s rearmament, and the future of Japanese relations with the other major powers in the Indo-Pacific.

youtube.com/watch?v=_0wntQ…

NEW ESSAY from the Future of American Power Project: "The End of Primacy Without Pain: Why the Domestic Foundation of American Power Is Crumbling"

American Statecraft Senior Fellow @stephenwertheim explores the disconnect between expansive U.S. foreign-policy commitments and a public unwilling to foot the bill.

"The foreign-policy consensus is, then, breaking down. Yet what is fracturing is not the consensus many suppose, namely an eight-decade attachment to leading a "liberal" or "rules-based" international order. Americans waged the Cold War less because they valued world order per se than because they felt threatened by communism at home and abroad. With their support, the United States defended the "free world," defined negatively as non-communist. Since 1989, America has engaged in more explicit and universal order-building, but most Americans have been asked to sacrifice little for the cause. Now Washington is walking away from its project of world-ordering, while the public sees no Cold War–sized threat. For how long can the country uphold far-flung defense obligations while American citizens decline to pay much more for the privilege?"

Read the full essay here:

carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/…

NEW ESSAY from the Future of American Power Project — What Canada Knows About American Power

President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, @PaulRSamson, writes of what Canadians have learned about allying with the United States from their decades of shared history:

"American pressure has been present in some form for most of Canada’s history. Washington has threatened Canadian territory, limited access to its market, interfered in Canada’s nuclear-defense debates, imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, asserted extraterritorial jurisdiction, and quietly threatened consequences for Ottawa’s foreign-policy choices that did not align with U.S. ones...Canada’s long experience with America can give an indication of how the latter’s relationships with other allies will play out, especially as the form and scope of American power evolves through control over the new operating infrastructure of modern economies, including data architectures, financial payment rails, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems."

Read more of his piece here:
carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/…

"Let's talk about Israel..."

Listen to @CChivvis and @asliaydintasbas as they discuss a dangerous new rivalry in the Middle East and what the US should do about it.

Listen to the full episode here:
youtube.com/watch?v=8Qt7OE…