The Trajectory of U.S. Economic Statecraft

A livestream of the conversation will begin here at 12:00pm ET on Monday, April 21.
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The current economic “moment” is seeing a generational re-ordering of global trade, alliances, and capital. The Trump Administration is unleashing an unprecedented and muscular use of economic power, with tariffs on historical allies and adversaries alike, ramped up sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, new investment incentives and reviews, and willingness to endure economic pain to remake the global order. The framework and objectives for this new use of economic power, however, continue to evolve.

What tools are available for advancing America’s strategic interests and what doctrinal guardrails should govern their use? How can the U.S. and partners limit emerging geoeconomic risks? What new models of economic integration, trade, investment, and development should we be pursuing? Which pathways are available to counteract adversarial challenges, and what strategic alignments are required among allies to sustain U.S. and global prosperity? As questions abound, the United States and its partners face choices about how to safeguard domestic interests while fostering global economic resilience and security.

To examine these questions and more, FDD hosts an on-the-record expert panel including Brian Hook, vice chairman of Cerberus Global Investments; Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, former assistant secretary of defense, industrial base policy, Department of Defense; Juan C. Zarate chairman and co-founder of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP); and Elaine Dezenski, senior director and head of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP).

Elaine Dezenski

Elaine Dezenski serves as senior director and head of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power. With more than two decades of leadership in public, private, and international organizations, Dezenski is a globally recognized expert and thought leader on geopolitical risk, supply chain security, anti-corruption, and national security. She previously served as senior director at the World Economic Forum, where she led the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and launched the Forum’s Global Risk Response Network. She has held senior positions at INTERPOL, Cross Match Technologies, and Siemens Corporation. Dezenski has held both political and career positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including deputy and acting assistant secretary for policy and director of cargo and trade policy.

Brian Hook

Brian Hook serves as vice chairman of Cerberus Global Investments. Prior to joining Cerberus, he served in the administrations of three U.S. Presidents. During the first Trump Administration, he served as senior advisor to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, senior advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. special representative for Iran, and director of policy planning staff at the State Department. He held a number of senior positions in the Bush Administration, including assistant secretary of state for international organizations, senior advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, special assistant to the President for Policy at the White House, and counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. Hook currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center at the Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale

Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale served as the first Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy at the U.S. Department of Defense from 2023-2025. In her role, she led all defense industrial strategy, investments, and planning, including the Defense Production Act and industrial base investments, supply chain resilience, small business programs, international defense industrial cooperation, and economic security and review of domestic mergers and acquisitions and foreign investments (CFIUS). Dr. Taylor-Kale is the Senior Fellow for Economic Security and Defense at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where she leads a working group on the defense industrial base. She has extensive experience in finance, business, economic policy and managing in complex organizations, including positions at the Department of Commerce, the World Bank, and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Juan C. Zarate

Juan C. Zarate serves as chairman and co-founder of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power and is global co-managing partner and chief strategy officer at K2Integrity. He is also a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a senior national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC and was a visiting lecturer of law at the Harvard Law School for eight years. Zarate served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009, where he was responsible for developing and implementing strategies related to transnational security threats, including anti-money laundering, kleptocracy, and transnational organized crime. He sits on several boards, including the National Endowment for Democracy, Guardian Space Technology Solutions, and Northwest Mutual.