Rethinking Supply Chains and Shipping to Reduce America’s Vulnerability to China

March 2023

Past Event

Rethinking Supply Chains and Shipping to Reduce America’s Vulnerability to China

Past Event

Hudson Institute

March 13, 2023

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 07: Shipping containers are stacked on a container ship at the Port of Los Angeles on February 7, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. The Commerce Department reported today that the U.S. posted its largest-ever trade deficit in 2022, $948.1 billion, as Americans imported large quantities of machinery, medicines and industrial items amid weakened global demand and high inflation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Shipping containers stacked on a container ship at the Port of Los Angeles on February 7, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

March 2023

Past Event

Speakers:

Hon. Peter DeFazio (D-OR, ret.)

Former Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Listen to Event Audio

View Transcript

The supply chain crisis provided a glimpse of America’s vulnerability to shipping bottlenecks as freight rates skyrocketed, key supplies were delayed or simply unavailable, consumer prices surged, and US exports were left behind. The US government could do little about the problem, in part because America has essentially no control over the international maritime logistics system. Fewer than 100 ships out of a global fleet of 50,000 are American, and no American shipping company is in the top 25. While the pandemic triggered the recent supply chain chaos, there is growing concern that China could weaponize its increasing control over supply chains and shipping, with catastrophic consequences for the US and global economy.

Former Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Peter DeFazio joins Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Roberts for a conversation on shipping and international trade, which will address why America finds itself in such a vulnerable position and what can be done to turn the ship around.

June 2026

Virtual Event | Hudson Institute

Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?

Featured Speakers:

Elliot Abrams

Daniel Batlle

June 2026

Virtual Event | Hudson Institute

Authoritarian Persistence in Latin America: What Should the US Do?

Please join Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle for a conversation with Elliott Abrams, whose leadership on Latin America policy stretches from his service as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under President Ronald Reagan to his role as special representative for Venezuela in the first Trump administration.

Featured Speakers:

Elliot Abrams

Daniel Batlle

Learn More

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Spain’s Latin American Reckoning

Featured Speakers:

Julio Crespo MacLennan

Daniel Batlle

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Spain’s Latin American Reckoning

Join Hudson as Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle sits down with Julio Crespo MacLennan, a historian and one of the leading scholars on Spain’s democratic transition and on Europe’s relationship with the wider world.

Featured Speakers:

Julio Crespo MacLennan

Daniel Batlle

Learn More

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash

Featured Speakers:

Nadia Schadlow

James Mismash

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Growing the DIB: A Conversation with Deputy Assistant Secretary of War James Mismash

Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat between Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Growth and Director of the Office of Small Business Programs James Mismash.

Featured Speakers:

Nadia Schadlow

James Mismash

Learn More

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Winning the Innovation Competition

Featured Speakers:

Bryan Clark

Dan Patt

Emil Michael

June 2026

In-Person Event | Hudson Institute

Winning the Innovation Competition

Please join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Dan Patt for a conversation with Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael about the Department of War’s efforts to bring AI to the battlefield and implement an innovation strategy that makes the most of America’s commercial and government research sectors.