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Expert Bio
Edward Alden is Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness, trade, and immigration policy. He is the author of the book Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy, which focuses on the federal government’s failure to respond effectively to competitive challenges on issues such as trade, currency, worker retraining, education, and infrastructure.
Alden recently served as the project director of a CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force, co-chaired by former Michigan Governor John Engler and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, which produced the report The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century. In 2011, he was the project codirector of the Independent Task Force that produced U.S. Trade and Investment Policy. In 2009, he was the project director of the Independent Task Force that produced U.S. Immigration Policy.
Alden’s previous book, The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11, was a finalist for the Lukas Book Prize, for narrative nonfiction in 2009. The jury called Alden’s book “a masterful job of comprehensive reporting, fair-minded analysis, and structurally sound argumentation.”
Alden was previously the Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, and prior to that was the newspaper’s Canada bureau chief, based in Toronto. He worked as a reporter at the Vancouver Sun and was the managing editor of the newsletter Inside U.S. Trade, widely recognized as a leading source of reporting on U.S. trade policies. Alden has won several national and international awards for his reporting. He has made numerous TV and radio appearances as an analyst on political and economic issues, including on the BBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS NewsHour. His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.
Alden has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of California, Berkeley. He pursued doctoral studies before returning to a journalism career. Alden is the winner of numerous academic awards, including a Mellon fellowship in the humanities and a MacArthur Foundation graduate fellowship.
Affiliations
- Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, advisory council member
- Foreign Policy, monthly columnist
- Journal on Migration and Human Security, editorial board
- Washington Campus, faculty
- Western Washington University, Ross distinguished visiting professor
Current Projects
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An era of inclusive U.S. economic policy is over, sparking anxiety around the world.
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The balance of loathing from the left and right suggests the administration is on the right path.
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A historic mission to facilitate global commerce is out of step with the times.
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Europeans consider vast U.S. subsidies for cars, clean energy, and semiconductors a danger to their economies.
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The broken system hurts immigrants—and makes it harder for the United States to compete.
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New U.S. sanctions are in some ways more restrictive than Cold-War era controls.
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This is the first time since World War II that there may be no cooperative way out.
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Protests against pandemic restrictions in Canada have shut down a vital economic link with the United States and inspired copycats around the world. Here’s what to know.
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The arrival of tens of thousands of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has generated domestic criticism from all sides that the Biden administration has poorly handled a cascading humanitarian crisis.
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