In a major speech at Princeton University last month, Senator Andy Kim laid out seven guiding principles for American leadership in an era of global uncertainty. The first and most foundational was simple but powerful: Economic security is national security. That phrase has come into use over the past few years to make the point that we cannot be secure as a nation if our economy is not competitive or our key supply chains are at risk. Senator Kim defines economic security as individual economic security, meaning that the United States is only a secure nation if our families and workers feel secure.
He goes on to say that our trade and foreign policy cannot deliver for the American people, or position us to shape the world around us, if it is disconnected from what we are doing at home. We need to do a better job of coordinating and blending domestic and foreign policy.
The U.S. has made modest efforts to address economic insecurity through narrow tools. From 1962 to 2021, Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) was a modest effort to blend domestic and foreign policy. When a trade agreement was passed by Congress, it was typically paired with TAA, which offered support to workers who lost jobs because of a trade agreement. It was helpful but was never designed to help the far larger number of workers displaced by automation, technological change, or broader economic shifts. When TAA expired in 2021, approximately 48,000 workers were relying on its benefits, and even this limited program disappeared.
We are now at a more demanding inflection point. Rapid technological change is reshaping entire industries. A narrow, trade-only approach is no longer sufficient. What is needed is a comprehensive strategy — one that provides real support to workers displaced for any reason and creates meaningful pathways to acquire the skills for tomorrow’s jobs. This will require sustained partnership between government and the private sector. If we fail to embrace workforce investments and other initiatives to support individual economic security, we risk an even greater backlash against American trade and foreign policy.
ALI is focusing on this challenge. We convene Members of Congress, business leaders, and policy experts to develop practical ideas that link America’s role in the world with the economic security of its people. We believe that a credible trade, technology, and foreign policy agenda must be paired with serious domestic investments in workers and communities.
This Thursday, ALI will continue that conversation with Senator Andy Kim, who will speak on developing a new agenda for American economic and national security. He offers a clear-eyed and forward-looking framework for exactly this work — one that treats the security of American families as the essential foundation of credible national strength.