Why the U.K. Is Ideally Placed to Negotiate an FTA with the U.S.

Why the U.K. Is an Ideal Free Trade Partner for the U.S., Heritage Foundation Issue Brief#6035, December 11, 2020. "The U.S. and U.K. are currently engaged in intensive negotiations for an ambitious free trade agreement. Such an agreement would build on the already vital trade and investment relationship, and security partnership, between the two nations. It would also offer wider advantages that would help the U.S. to build the positive free trade agenda it needs. The British public broadly supports pursuing free trade agreements outside the European Union, including an agreement with the U.S.; and the British government is moving vigorously to negotiate both continuity and new trade agreements as it exits the EU Customs Union. The U.S. should welcome the fact that the U.K. has entered the world economy as an independent trading nation, and take advantage of this reality by concluding an ambitious free trade agreement with the U.K. in 2021."

Interpol Elections Require U.S. Leadership

The U.S. Must Promote Democratic Leadership in Interpol, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #6025, November 10, 2020. "The next meeting of the Interpol General Assembly will likely be dominated by the election of a majority of Interpol’s Executive Committee, including a new president. The current public contenders for Interpol’s presidency hail from nations with a track record of abusing Interpol. The U.S. should work with other leading democracies to form a democratic caucus in Interpol to ensure that qualified candidates from law-abiding democracies fill these positions. While the agenda for Interpol reform is wide, the U.S.’s top priority must be ensuring that Interpol’s leadership is committed to opposing the autocratic abuse of Interpol."

Financial Sector Support for US-UK Regulatory Cooperation

How the U.S. and Britain Can Build on Private-Sector Support for an Ambitious U.S.–U.K. Free Trade Agreement, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #6017, October 26, 2020. "The establishment business organizations in Britain, which represent a small but visible minority of large firms, prefer the status quo, and have therefore for too long failed to realize the opportunities that Brexit offers. But an alliance of major British and American business organizations in the financial sector recently broke this pattern by announcing their support for deep and broad financial regulatory cooperation between the U.S. and the U.K. within the context of a U.S.–U.K. free trade agreement. The U.S. and Britain must take advantage of this constructive initiative and build on it as they negotiate an ambitious U.S.–U.K. free trade area."

UK Must Break Out of EU Rule-Making Orbit

The U.S. and Britain Should Conclude an Ambitious Free Trade Agreement as Soon as Possible, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #6012, September 24, 2020. "Both the U.S. and the U.K. have much to gain from negotiating and ratifying a free trade agreement, and both nations have shown strong political support for such an agreement. The fundamental goal of the European Union, on the other hand, continues to be to lock the U.K. into its regulatory orbit, thereby nullifying in practice many of Brexit’s achievements and making it effectively impossible for the U.K. to maintain an independent trade policy. The U.K. has made it clear that it will not become an EU client state and has demonstrated its commitment to developing its own trade policies. The U.S. and the U.K. must not allow narrow protectionist lobbies to defeat the broader objectives on which both nations are agreed, and should consider announcing an interim agreement as soon as possible."

The Interpol Presidency in 2020

The Top U.S. Priority at the 2020 Meeting of the Interpol General Assembly, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #6005, August 26, 2020. "The 2020 annual meeting of the Interpol General Assembly, to be held in December in Abu Dhabi, will likely be dominated by the election of a majority of Interpol’s executive committee, including a new president. The United States should work with other democratic nations to form a democratic caucus within Interpol to ensure that qualified candidates from law-abiding democracies fill these positions. While the agenda for Interpol reform is wide, the U.S. must anticipate that the autocracies will make a bid in particular to win Interpol’s presidency, and defeating that bid—not reforming Interpol—will have to be the top U.S. priority in 2020."

Cooperative Pandemic Measures with Europe

The U.S.–European Economic Partnership Recovery Plan, with colleagues at the Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation Special Report #230, May 8, 2020. "Europe is being devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, and the economic situation in the United States is not much better. The U.S. and Europe need each other more than ever in order to pull each other out of the post-COVID-19 economic crisis. This Special Report has identified seven areas of potential transatlantic community cooperation between the U.S. and Europe: (1) economic freedom, (2) a U.S.–EU Free Trade Agreement, (3) a U.S.–U.K. Free Trade Agreement, (4) the Three Seas Initiative, (5) the Visa Waiver Program, (6) Europe’s energy security, and (7) Europe’s approach to China 5G technology. Cooperation on these seven areas offers a realistic and meaningful approach for Americans and Europeans to help each other."

Assessing U.K. Objectives For An FTA With The US

How the U.S. Should Respond to the U.K.’s Negotiating Objectives for a Free Trade Agreement, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5069, May 6, 2020. "On March 2, the U.K. published its negotiating objectives for a free trade agreement with the U.S. These objectives make it clear that the U.K. is committed to free trade with like-minded democracies, including the U.S. The U.K. attaches particular importance to an ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement with the U.S., viewing it as a strategic opportunity to strengthen the Special Relationship. The U.K. places particular emphasis on expanding trade in services with the U.S. and hopes the U.S. and U.K. can set a new gold standard for digital trade and the protection of intellectual property. The U.K.’s objectives demonstrate that, while negotiations for an agreement with the U.S. will not be free from challenges, there is a clear basis for the speedy conclusion of a free trade agreement between the U.S. and the U.K."

Avoiding TTIP Redux

Ten Principles for U.S. Trade Negotiations with the European Union, with Gabriella Beaumont-Smith, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3480, April 8, 2020. "Since the collapse of the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in 2016, trade tensions between the U.S. and the European Union have increased. In July 2018, the U.S. and the EU agreed to negotiate a trade agreement, and in October 2018, the U.S. released its negotiating objectives for trade talks with the EU. These objectives are generic and based on a vision of “balanced” and managed trade that is excessively pessimistic about the value of free trade. Negotiating with the EU will not be easy: The EU’s support for regulatory harmonization and its proclivity for accompanying its free trade agreements with broad political declarations are both unacceptable. The U.S. and the EU should learn the lesson of TTIP, and prefer a narrow, principled agreement that increases market-based competition and which can be negotiated rapidly, to an effort to negotiate a wider agreement that fails and thereby only gives rise to further animosity."

No, It's Not A CFIUS

The Potential Risks of the EU’s Investment Screening for the United States, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5055, April 6, 2020. "The EU has adopted a framework for screening foreign direct investment. While this framework has regularly been compared to the Committee for Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), the reality is that the EU’s framework bears no similarities to CFIUS in form or likely effectiveness. In fact, the EU’s framework is riddled with weaknesses and perverse incentives. Moreover, because the EU’s framework covers EU programs that have been developed in order to create strategic distance between the EU and the U.S., it is likely that the framework will be used not only against the autocracies at which it is purportedly directed, but also against the United States. The U.S. should focus on improving investment screening at the national level, and vigorously protest any use of the EU’s framework against the U.S."

The 2021 NDAA - Land Mines, Cluster Munitions, and Defense Cooperation

How the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and the Defense Appropriations Act Can Prepare the U.S. for Great Power Competition, with colleagues at the Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation Special Report #222, March 23, 2020. "The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and the Department of Defense Appropriations Act are key tools for helping the Department of Defense (DOD) adapt to great power competition. The process of preparing for great power competition will not be a fast one, nor is it a matter of simply giving the DOD more resources. It will require prioritizing the long-term challenge posed by China and Russia, while divesting from previous efforts that do not contribute to meeting those challenges. Even if the United States dedicated all federal taxpayer dollars to the defense of the nation, the DOD would still have to make hard decisions about which capabilities are necessary now and in the future, as well as about the level of readiness of each unit. The 2021 authorization and appropriations acts are excellent opportunities for Congress to help the DOD make those decisions."

Making the Case for U.S. Land Mines

Landmines Should Be an Option for the U.S., Washington Times, February 26, 2020. "On March 6, 2014, America’s highest-ranking military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, called anti-personnel landmines “an important tool in the arsenal of the armed forces of the United States.” Barely six months later, the Obama administration all but removed that tool from the U.S. arsenal by declaring the U.S. would not use landmines outside the Korean Peninsula. The Trump administration has now rightly overturned that policy."

Quit the PoA

The United States Should Withdraw from the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5040, February 20, 2020. "The last meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA), held in 2018, broke a U.S. red line and violated the PoA’s own rule of working by unanimous consent. The PoA has few if any substantive achievements. The only reason for the U.S. to participate was to prevent the PoA from making bad decisions and seeking to bind the U.S. with progressive norms. Now that the PoA has abandoned the principle of unanimity that allowed the U.S. to prevent bad outcomes, there is no reason for the U.S. to continue to participate. The U.S. should therefore take no part in the June 2020 meeting of the PoA."

Rejecting Obama's Unilateral Disarmament

The Trump Administration Is Right to Correct U.S. Landmine Policy, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5037, February 13, 2020. "On January 31, 2020, the Trump Administration canceled the Obama Administration’s policy that prohibited U.S. military forces from employing anti-personnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula. The Obama Administration’s policy denied U.S. troops the use of weapons that could help to reduce U.S. casualties and help the U.S. military to prevail in future conflict. The Obama policy was adopted against the advice of the U.S. military, in order to please the progressive activists who have led the campaign against anti-personnel landmines, a campaign that has led only to the disarmament of democracies. The new U.S. policy issued by the Department of Defense responsibly authorizes Combatant Commanders, in exceptional circumstances, to employ advanced, non-persistent landmines specifically designed to reduce unintended harm to civilians and partner forces."

What Brexit Means for the U.S.

Brexit’s Three Key Implications for U.S. Policymakers, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5031, January 31, 2020. "The U.K’s exit from the EU will have three major implications for U.S. policymakers. First, as the U.K. regains its full diplomatic independence and represents itself in functional international organizations, it will be essential for the U.S. to deepen its bilateral diplomatic engagement with Britain. Second, as the U.K. recovers its freedom to negotiate trade agreements, the U.S. must take advantage of this opportunity to negotiate a free trade area with Britain. Third, as the U.K. restores its democratic national sovereignty, the U.S. should recognize that the U.K. has vindicated the principle on which the U.S. itself is founded, even though the history of the Special Relationship shows that the U.S. and the U.K. will not always agree with each other."

How to Protect the U.S. Judicial System from Interpol Politicization

Protecting the U.S. Judicial System from A Politicized Interpol, with Sandra Grossman, The Federalist Society, January 30, 2020. "The problem with Interpol is that not all national governments genuinely respect the divide on which Interpol’s constitution is predicated, the divide between offenses against ordinary criminal law on the one hand, and politicized offenses on the other. For too many governments, political opposition or financial independence is itself a criminal act. Since Interpol is for all intents and purposes a universal membership organization, it faces the relentless need to examine the uses its members are making of it, in order to ensure it is complying with its constitution. This is particularly true now the Interpol operates electronically, as the speed and interconnected nature of modern communications and databases means that the consequences of Interpol abuse – the use of Interpol for political or other forbidden purposes – can now have nearly instantaneous and worldwide effect."

Priorities for the U.S. in Europe in 2020

Six Key Priorities for U.S. Europe Policy in a Crucial Year, with Daniel Kochis, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5025, January 17, 2020. "The year 2020 will have an outsized policy impact on key issues facing the transatlantic alliance. Key challenges for U.S. policy in Europe in 2020 include the continued threat of Russia to U.S. interests and to American allies, Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, the pernicious effects of Chinese investments, the Trojan horse of Chinese 5G technology putting Western intelligence sharing at risk, and failure to secure the Balkans and allowing local conflicts to metastasize. U.S. policymakers should focus on six key priorities in 2020: (1) a U.S.–U.K. free trade agreement, (2) NATO deterrence capabilities, (3) U.S.–EU trade negotiations, (4) moving Europe toward a robust response to the rising threat from China, (5) supporting the Three Seas Initiative, and (6) continued engagement in European hotspots."

Reviewing the TRAP Act

The TRAP Act’s Contribution to Preventing Transnational Repression Through Interpol, with Sandra Grossman, Federalist Society Review, January 10, 2020. "The Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act of 2019, introduced in both the House and Senate in September, is a bipartisan response to widespread concern about the abuse of Interpol by authoritarian governments for political purposes. Repressive regimes, particularly in Russia, China, Turkey, and Venezuela, use Interpol to issue illegitimate Red Notices and diffusions against political opponents. The effect of this abuse can be severe and is borne by individuals whose due process guarantees and human rights are harmed. As a result, Interpol abuse has drawn increasing attention and criticism from a wide range of international organizations, political leaders, and non-governmental organizations."

A Practical Step Towards Improved Anglo-American Cooperation

The U.S. Should Pursue Visa Liberalization with the United Kingdom, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3461, January 10, 2020. "The term “visa liberalization” refers to a policy of making it easier for defined categories of foreign nationals to obtain valid visas to live and work in the United States. Visa liberalization with nations whose citizens respect the terms of their entry to the U.S. is not part of U.S. immigration policy. Rather, it is a way of reducing barriers to trade with foreign nations and increasing investment in the United States. The U.S. has pursued a policy of visa liberalization toward different foreign nations in different ways, including through U.S. statute, through a free trade area agreement, and through legislation associated with such an agreement. In spite of the Trump Administration’s “Hire American” policy, it has supported visa liberalization with New Zealand. Both the British and the American governments are eager to negotiate a free trade area agreement after the U.K. leaves the European Union. As part of this area, the U.S. should support, and the U.K. should seek, uncapped reciprocal visa liberalization for nonimmigrant professionals seeking to live and work in the U.S. or the U.K."