Global Economics Monthly: Economics as Strategy

Volume III | Issue 1 | January 2014

As an economic specialist at a foreign policy think tank, I often joke that my security-focused colleagues work on life and liberty, while I do the pursuit of happiness. Yet a quarter century after he
relegated economic rights to third position in his immortal declaration, President Thomas Jefferson sent warships to North Africa in 1801 to fend off Barbary pirates who were menacing U.S. merchant shipping. In fact, commercial considerations have been at the heart of American foreign policy throughout the nation’s history. But in a globalized era of shifting economic power, Washington needs to do better both at advancing U.S. commercial interests abroad and at using economic policy as a strategic tool in foreign policy.

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Matthew P. Goodman

Matthew P. Goodman

Former Senior Vice President for Economics