The United States has a vital interest in cultivating its economic strength and keeping its financial tools nimble and effective. CNAS delivers analysis and recommendations to help national leaders advance America’s economic standing and use its economic policies to achieve strategic and security goals.
Economic measures—both those designed to coerce change and those offered as incentives and positive inducements—include financial sanctions, trade and export controls, and investment restrictions, as well as investment guarantees, development aid, and interest rate policy, among others.
U.S. national security challenges are increasingly addressed by tools of economic statecraft—tools that are ever more powerful, multilateral and essential in the execution of U.S. foreign policy. They are now widely used to manage the pressing security threats of nuclear weapons proliferation, terrorism and territorial aggression. They are also vital to the promotion of peace, prosperity, innovation and opportunities for much of the world’s population. The Energy, Economics and Security program offers policymakers analysis and recommendations to promote these national interests and manage key security threats.