Executing foreign policy choices will always incur costs along with hoped-for benefits. But willfully ignoring how US economic statecraft toward Iran and China might have unintended consequences in the Middle East creates dangerous blind spots for national security.
There are two current key misunderstandings in the effects of US foreign economic policy on the Middle East, which National Security Council senior director for the Middle East Victoria Coates elaborated on in her remarks at the Atlantic Council on June 6. The first misunderstanding is about the relation between US sanctions on Iran's oil exports and subsequent opportunities for American energy. The second is about US trade policy toward China and the ripple effects on global markets, including the Middle East.
