A Balanced Threat Assessment of China’s South China Sea Policy

U.S. lawmakers and analysts see China’s efforts to control much of the South China Sea as a serious threat, endangering regional security, freedom of navigation, and the liberal world order.  A new paper from Benjamin Herscovitch finds that political leaders and experts exaggerate the dangers of China’s South China Sea policy. “Although China’s South China Sea policy is inconsistent with some of the norms and institutions of the rules-based liberal world order,” says Herscovitch, “Beijing does not seek to undermine this order as a whole and remains supportive of key elements of the international system.”

Doomed to Repeat It: The Long History of America’s Protectionist Failures

A renewed focus on international trade’s disruptions to the U.S. economy, while worthwhile, has spawned troubling suggestions that the U.S. government should be more willing to experiment again with protectionism to help American workers and the economy. In a new paper, Cato scholar Scott Lincicome shows that, contrary to the fashionable rhetoric, American protectionism has repeatedly failed as an economic strategy.

Preserving the Iran Nuclear Deal: Perils and Prospects

Since he started his bid for office, President Donald Trump has been a forceful detractor of the Iran nuclear deal, repeatedly vowing to dismantle it. But the nuclear deal affords the United States a number of opportunities, if the administration sustains it. In a new paper, Ariane M. Tabatabai says that the U.S. should clearly reaffirm its commitment to the deal; help reintegrate Iran into the international economy; keep official channels of communication open with Tehran; and engage, rather than isolate, the Islamic Republic.

Renegotiating NAFTA in the Era of Trump: Keeping the Trade Liberalization In and the Protectionism Out

The United States, Canada, and Mexico are about to begin an historic renegotiation of NAFTA. And while the proposal to renegotiate NAFTA may have been motivated by protectionist objectives, there is potential to minimize or even avert protectionist outcomes. A new working paper from Simon Lester, Inu Manak, and Daniel J. Ikenson argues that renegotiation presents the opportunity to modernize, fix, and expand the rules of NAFTA, and produce a “freer” free trade agreement, which would be good for the North American economy.

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The Supreme Court: Past and Prologue
A Look at the October 2016 and 2017 Terms

The annual Constitution Day symposium, presented by Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies, marks the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention finished drafting the U.S. Constitution. We celebrate that event each year with the release of the new issue of the Cato Supreme Court Review and with a day-long symposium featuring noted scholars discussing the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the important cases coming up.