STRATEGIC

CHAPTER FOUR
Leveraging U.S. Strengths, Dealing with
Vulnerabilities
Over the past quarter-century, the advanced industrial economies have
been struggling to adapt to three large historic trends: First, the entry of
3.5 billion new people into a globalizing economy; second, rapid technological
advances that have created and destroyed whole industries; and
third, the shifting demographics of higher-income societies (with the
same shift soon to affect middle-income and low-income economies).
Each of these transformations is expected to accelerate in the decades to
come. Each will require short-term domestic policy adjustments in order
to bend the long-term trend lines in the United States’ favor.
The United States possesses enormous strengths and competitive
advantages that have enabled it to thrive for more than a century in
the face of determined adversaries. Chief among them have been the
adaptability of the nation and its citizens to confront daunting challenges,
domestic and international; its culture of innovation; and its
ability to garner friends and partners across the globe.
At the same time, the country today has structural economic
weaknesses, as well as deep political and cultural divisions that were
sharpened by the 2016 election. If not addressed, the political and fiscal
ramifications of these vulnerabilities may constrain America’s ability to
mount an effective, coherent foreign policy.
A successful international strategy should therefore recognize and
reinforce the country’s significant strengths in adapting to an innovationfueled,
automation-enabled service economy, and minimize the associated
socioeconomic vulnerabilities. This chapter addresses these
strengths along with the domestic policy concerns that are most relevant
to securing the U.S. position in an increasingly competitive world.
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