Columbia Energy Exchange

As President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan laid out a strategy for what he called a “foreign policy for the middle class.” Using the metaphor of a small yard and a high fence, the Biden administration’s approach focused on reshoring critical industries and manufacturing, supporting innovation, and protecting strategic technologies.  The strategy relied on industrial policy, tariffs, and sanctions — some of the same economic tools the Trump administration is now using to launch a global trade war. The broad shift on both sides of the aisle to focus on national security, economic security, and supply chain resilience has enormous implications for the clean energy transition, from critical minerals and solar panels to batteries and EVs.  So how should we think about the relationship between economic resilience, energy security, and climate action? What lessons can we draw from the Biden administration's approach to countering China? And looking ahead, what should the U.S. prioritize when it co