How Republicans Can Replay the Reagan Era

For a long time, longer than I’ve held this job, my advice to Republican politicians and policymakers has been consistent: It isn’t the 1970s or 1980s anymore. The ideas associated with Ronald Reagan’s ascent to power, forged in an era of Cold War and high crime rates, stagflation and sexual revolution, were responses to crises and challenges decades in the past, and the G.O.P. was doomed to cycles of failure until it devised an agenda more fitted to the times. The year 2021, though, is the first time a reasonable…

Biden and China’s Xi Will Hold Virtual Summit on Monday

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the diplomatic conversations, said the president would make clear that the United States was ready to engage in stiff competition, but did not want open conflict with China and was eager to cooperate in areas where the two countries’ interests aligned. Those areas are likely to include discussions of efforts to limit nuclear proliferation and counter global warming. But the meeting between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi could also be tense, as the two leaders deal with more contentious issues,…

The Biden Doctrine Won’t Win the 21st Century for Humanity

The frameworks, paradigms and doctrines of that era, of any kind, are simply insufficient to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Bolder thinking is required, thinking that shifts away from states, whether great powers or lesser powers, democracies or autocracies. It is time to put people first, to see the world first as a planet of eight billion people rather than as an artificially constructed system of 195 countries and to measure all state actions in terms of their impact on people. Instead of competing with China today on…

Your Monday Briefing

Good morning. We’re covering China’s rewriting of history, the U.S. infrastructure vote and India’s weakening moral authority. Xi Jinping sets his legacy China’s top leader will most likely take center stage in a new official summation of Communist Party history. The document is likely to exalt Xi, 68, as a peer of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping before his expected re-election at a party congress late next year. The summation is sure to become the focus of an intense indoctrination campaign — in schools, culture and censorship laws — that…

With Methane and Forest Deals, Climate Summit Offers Hope After Gloomy Start

GLASGOW — The world leaders gathered at a crucial climate summit secured new agreements on Tuesday to end deforestation and reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, building momentum as the conference prepared to shift to a more grueling two weeks of negotiations on how to avert the planet’s catastrophic warming. Capping off two days of speeches and meetings, President Biden on Tuesday said the United States pledged to be a “partner” with vulnerable countries confronting climate change, while expressing confidence that his own domestic climate agenda is on…

European Steel Plan Shows Biden’s Bid to Merge Climate and Trade Policy

WASHINGTON — President Biden has promised to use trade policy as a tool to mitigate climate change. This weekend, the administration provided its first look at how it plans to mesh those policy goals, saying the United States and the European Union would try to curb carbon emissions as part of a trade deal covering steel and aluminum. The arrangement, which American and European leaders aim to introduce by 2024, would use tariffs or other tools to encourage the production and trade of metals made with fewer carbon emissions in…

3 Big Questions Looming Over the Glasgow Climate Talks

This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Six years ago in Paris, world leaders celebrated a breakthrough in global climate politics: After more than two decades of failure, nearly every country finally agreed to reduce “as soon as possible” the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases they were pumping into the atmosphere. Those leaders knew, though, that their pledges were woefully insufficient to avert disaster and would need to be ratcheted up at a later date. That is…

Global Shipping Delays Loom Over Retailers for the Holidays

WASHINGTON — It was 73 days until Christmas, and the clock was ticking down for Catch Co. The Chicago-based fishing company had secured a spot to sell a new product, an advent calendar for fishing enthusiasts dubbed “12 Days of Fishmas,” in 2,650 Walmart stores nationwide. But like so many products this holiday season, the calendars were mired in a massive traffic jam in the flow of goods from Asian factories to American store shelves. With Black Friday rapidly approaching, many of the calendars were stuck in a 40-foot steel…

In U.S.-China Competition, Taiwan’s Voice Must Be Heeded

So when Mr. Biden unambiguously said the United States was committed to defending Taiwan, the White House quickly clarified there was “no change” in its policy. Whether Biden simply misspoke or was signaling his resolve to China, the suggestion of a shift to strategic clarity prompted a cautious response from Taiwan: The president’s office cautioned Taiwan would not “rashly advance” when it receives support. That should not come as a surprise. But lost in the Beltway rhetoric is the will of Taiwan’s people. Many outsiders — myself included — are…

China’s Weapon Tests Close to a ‘Sputnik Moment,’ U.S. General Says

General Milley’s reference to a near-Sputnik moment was meant to resonate with a generation that remembers a long-ago Cold War. Sputnik was the launch, in 1957, of a Soviet satellite. It created fear in Washington that the Soviets were getting ahead in the space race, and led to President John F. Kennedy’s declaration that the United States would be the first to land humans on the moon, an accomplishment that was reached in less than a decade. But it also helped spur the nuclear arms race, which was only tamped…