Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asks @RushDoshi, director of @CFR_China, about leveraging federal procurement power to make the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain less dependent on China. “The U.S. government has incredible purchasing power, but right now we effectively focus on low cost, not resilience, and not quality. And so as a result, purchasing groups are not incentivized to purchase, you know, with any knowledge of upstream KSM or API dependency.”

"By suing the board of Intel and the U.S. government, shareholders in the chipmaker have defied the Trump administration. They claim the government had no right to demand equity in exchange for grants made to Intel during the Biden administration under the Chips Act to boost the semiconductor industry," writes expert Laura Taylor-Kale. Supply chain resilience laws, like the Chips Act, "were intended to save companies producing materials or goods necessary for national defense, incentivize investment in critical technologies and boost production in strategic sectors," she writes. "The Trump administration has interpreted them as allowing the government to become a shareholder in companies — a potentially illegal shift." "Congress should clearly define when and how the government takes equity stakes and the guardrails necessary to support public investment for national defense," she argues.

What are UN peacekeeping missions? In this 6-minute video, Paul B. Stares, the General John W. Vessey senior fellow for conflict prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action @CFR_org, presents these missions' operations and challenges.

The July/August 2026 issue of @ForeignAffairs is now available. The latest issue provides analysis on how new technologies threaten America's military advantage, what Russia's military power will look like after Ukraine, how a remade Iran will reshape the Middle East, and more. Start reading:

The rapid spread of a rare strain of Ebola in Central and East Africa now constitutes the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. There have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases and hundreds of fatalities so far, with most cases concentrated in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Here's what to know about what's driving the current Ebola outbreak, the scale of the crisis, and what it means for the state of global health infrastructure and preparedness:

Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) asks @RushDoshi, director of @CFR_China, about what the potential consequences for the United States could be if China restricts just 25% of the inputs for amoxicillin. “The ability to have a shortage or an increase in price, I mean, that will ripple though the health-care system,” says Doshi. “At least 700 [U.S. drugs] have an upstream dependency on [key starting materials (KSMs)] that come from only China. So we’re talking about, potentially, a magnitude of impact that would be devastating to seniors.”

Conflict-driven disruptions of critical supply chain chokepoints have become a recurring feature of the world today, from Russia's 2022 blockade of Ukraine's grain exports via the Black Sea to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A new CFR report lays out the playbook for how the U.S. government can respond to such crises.

“There’s probably not going to be a huge demand for folks with a major in gender studies or a soft science that is more philosophical than actually applicable. So I think you’re still going to have demand for folks that can build things,” says Alaska Governor @GovDunleavy, while discussing concerns that there will be fewer jobs for recent college graduates. “Plumbers and electricians will make more, in some cases, than doctors because of the demand on the data centers and so forth. But the question really is, is that short term or long term?” 🔗 Watch the full conversation:

In Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism, CFR expert @RobinsonL100 explores the effects of authoritarianism and violent extremism on women leaders, as well as the ways in which they are fighting back and creating more resilient democracies. Learn more:

You can't go to a meeting inside the Beltway without a discussion of regional integration. It's become a big deal, but it should be in the category of "nice to have, but not critical." 1/2

What are UN peacekeeping missions? In this 6-minute video, Paul B. Stares, the General John W. Vessey senior fellow for conflict prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action @CFR_org, presents these missions' operations and challenges.

Under the Biden administration, @spsaki was the first U.S. coordinator for global health security at the National Security Council, where she navigated the U.S. response to major disease outbreaks such as Ebola. Years of work in research and at nonprofits fueled her knowledge of what policies would lead to public health improvements. Now a senior fellow for global health at CFR, Psaki shares lessons learned from each outbreak, the skills needed to succeed in research and government, and why career paths don’t need to be linear. Read the full interview:

"By suing the board of Intel and the U.S. government, shareholders in the chipmaker have defied the Trump administration. They claim the government had no right to demand equity in exchange for grants made to Intel during the Biden administration under the Chips Act to boost the semiconductor industry," writes CFR expert Laura Taylor-Kale for @FT. Supply chain resilience laws, like the Chips Act, "were intended to save companies producing materials or goods necessary for national defense, incentivize investment in critical technologies and boost production in strategic sectors," she writes. "The Trump administration has interpreted them as allowing the government to become a shareholder in companies — a potentially illegal shift." "Congress should clearly define when and how the government takes equity stakes and the guardrails necessary to support public investment for national defense," she argues.

Yemen's Houthi rebels declared on July 20 that they would impose a complete naval blockade on Saudi Arabia—opening a new front in the U.S.-Iran war and threatening to choke off the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with potentially major consequences for the global economy.

President Donald Trump's signature tax bill is contributing to a contraction in the country's clean energy manufacturing that threatens U.S. supply chains and competitiveness, just as rising electricity prices underscore the industry's importance.

In her new book, Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism, CFR expert @RobinsonL100 draws on exclusive interviews and examples of women leaders around the world—including former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley—to analyze the convergence of two trends seen in the United States and elsewhere: democratic backsliding and the systematic targeting of women in politics. Learn more:

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy expressed a dire need for interceptor missiles following Russia's bombardment of Kyiv on July 6. Since the invasion began in 2022, the United States has provided or agreed to provide Ukraine with a long list of defense capabilities. We mapped the level of support the U.S. has provided Ukraine in 11 charts:

Driven largely by a sharp rise in energy prices stemming from the Iran war, the median inflation rate across the countries monitored in CFR's Global Inflation Tracker increased to 3.0% in Q1 2026—up from 2.8% the quarter prior. The IMF forecasts a continued rise in global inflation as the supply shock from the war puts further upward pressure on prices, writes expert @BennSteil. Explore CFR's Global Inflation Tracker to trace inflation trends in almost 200 countries:

Since its founding 250 years ago, the United States has grown from a loose union of former colonies to the global superpower it is today. Throughout its history, the country has grappled with recurring foreign policy questions about how to protect its interests, articulate its values, and define its role in the world. Trace some of the major moments in U.S. foreign policy with @CFR_Education's timeline: