Updates | The Week of June 12, 2017
President Trump is expected to announce a reversion to stricter trade and travel policies with Cuba (NPR).
- At Cato, Juan Carlos Hidalgo questions whom this policy change is supposed to help.
- President Trump’s rumored plans to restore trade and travel restrictions on Cuba will harm U.S. interests, argues Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) at The Hill.
- President Trump is reportedly planning to issue a directive to scale back Obama-era Cuba policy, including a re-tightening of loosened travel regulations to the country (WSJ).
The Trump Administration is trying to persuade the Senate not to condemn a weapons transfer to Saudi Arabia (The Intercept).
- The Senate voted against blocking a Trump Administration sale of arms to Saudi Arabia (Politico, WaPo, The Intercept).
- After the Senate defeated a bipartisan bid to block weapons sales to Saudi Arabia yesterday, Qatar signed a deal to buy 36 F-15 jets from the U.S. today as the two countries navigate tensions over the president’s backing for a Saudi-led coalition’s attempt to isolate Qatar for supporting terrorism (Bloomberg Politics, Al Jazeera).
The U.S. carried out its first drone strike in Somalia since President Trump approved the Pentagon’s proposal to exempt Somalia from special targeting limits in March (NYT).
President Trump committed to participation in NATO’s collective defense on Friday, despite previously calling the alliance “obsolete” (WaPo).
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would expand sanctions on Russia, and which limits the White House’s ability to lift restrictions (WSJ).
The creation of the “deconfliction zone” that was established by the U.S. military in Syria may have violated domestic and international law, writes Tess Bridgeman at Just Security.
Despite the damage done by the Trump administration to U.S. relationships with European allies, the Privacy Shield facilitating transatlantic data flows remains intact, argues former Obama administration official Robert Litt at Lawfare.
A new report shows that the United States in the last fifteen years has been highly secretive in its use of lethal force overseas, explain Alex Moorehead and Waleed Alhariri at Just Security.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis stated that a new strategy for Afghanistan is weeks away (WaPo, Politico).
- The Secretary also stated that North Korea is now the biggest threat to U.S. security (WaPo).
The U.S. should take responsibility for more drone strikes, which have increased fourfold since President Trump took office, notes Murtaza Hussain at the Intercept.