Federal Strategy and Management

Without federal preemption on AI regulations, states are rushing to impose audits, transparency mandates, and sector-specific obligations—often with overlapping or conflicting rules that extend beyond state borders.

The Trump administration doubled down on its push for the federal government to take financial stakes or other commercial interests in major U.S. companies—a policy that would weaken American competitiveness, invite political manipulation, and undermine the very goals of U.S. industrial strategy.

For 40 years, the U.S. government sent implicit and often explicit messages to American firms: Invest in China. Indulging in emotionally satisfying corporate blame points us toward the wrong solutions.

Turning CHIPS Act grants into government equity stakes would undermine their purpose and weaken U.S. efforts to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

The Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act is a timely and necessary response to the growing threat posed by state-sponsored cyber actors, particularly from China, but Congress should further refine it to truly future-proof the nation’s cybersecurity posture.

The United States must invest in the intellectual and institutional infrastructure needed to counter China’s aggressive techno-economic rise. NSF’s TIP Directorate should fund at least one university to establish a graduate program focused on industrial strategy and economic warfighting.

Iran’s growing cyber capabilities, combined with recent geopolitical tensions, pose a serious threat to U.S. critical infrastructure, requiring urgent federal action to strengthen digital defenses and build long-term resilience.

Congress’ decision to reject a federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation is a missed opportunity. Without a pause, the United States continues to face a patchwork of state laws that confuses consumers, burdens businesses, and slows innovation.

Canada needs a new federal institution that makes its innovation system more than the sum of its parts: a Canadian Innovation and Industrial Transformation Agency. This institution wouldn’t replace programs. It would govern them coherently, strategically, and at speed.

Tariffs and tax breaks won’t fix America’s quality crisis. But perhaps an overhaul of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will.