How Trump’s Nuclear Orders Sparked America’s Nuclear Revival (The National Interest)

This op-ed was originally published by The National Interest on May 21, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

Public and private investment is accelerating reactor deployment, rebuilding the domestic fuel supply chain, and laying the foundation for a long-awaited American nuclear renaissance.

One year ago, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders (EOs) that charted a new course to rebuild America’s nuclear industry. Together, they represent the most ambitious steps any president has taken to advance nuclear energy in the 21st century, aiming to deliver the long-promised nuclear renaissance. 

Trump’s Nuclear Executive Orders Set Ambitious Goals for US Nuclear Energy 

These executive orders established a framework to accelerate reactor deployment, rebuild the nuclear fuel supply chain, and restore US competitiveness globally through agencies such as the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to finance major American projects abroad. They provided specific, measurable targets to rapidly test new reactor designs, begin construction on 10 large reactors by 2030, quadruple US nuclear capacity to 400 gigawatts (GW) by 2050, address fuel shortages and waste disposal, streamline the regulatory environment, and rebuild a globally competitive industry capable of outcompeting China and Russia.

In this era of rising demand, the federal government cannot constrain nuclear development; all levers of government are increasingly working to enable more nuclear development. President Trump’s orders are more than just headlines; they’re part of a cohesive public-private strategy to accelerate the American nuclear industry. 

Big Tech and Industry Are Powering Advanced Nuclear Reactor Deployment 

Many of these projects are private sector-driven. Some of America’s largest companies, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Dow, and others, are turning to both existing and new nuclear energy to meet skyrocketing power needs.

Today, some of these companies are supporting commercial advanced nuclear reactor projects under construction in Wyoming, Texas, and Tennessee. Furthermore, several companies are also now on track to reach first criticality through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program, and the Department of Defense (DOD) is actively moving to deploy microreactors across military installations through the Janus program and Project Pele. 

These programs provide a critical opportunity to demonstrate and test advanced technologies. Beyond that, roughly 8 GW of new reactors are planned, another 2 GW are coming back online through plant restarts, and up to 5 GW more are being explored through uprates at existing facilities.

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How Surface Transportation Reauthorization Can Drive America’s Next Materials Revolution (American Affairs)

This op-ed was originally published by American Affairs on May 20, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

The Interstate Highways run through America as asphalt and concrete strands, binding the nation together, facilitating interstate commerce, and enabling a uniquely mobile American culture. They are fundamental to the operating system of American life, yet few appreciate their scale as the largest public works project undertaken in U.S. history and one of the few engineered structures visible from space.

America’s Interstate system emerged in its current physical and administrative form in response to the technological innovation of mass manufactured automobiles, defense needs amid the specter of the Cold War, and political compromises among different interest groups. Development started 110 years ago, with the passage of the Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916, marking the first time the federal government provided support for nationwide roadbuilding. The Interstate Highway System as we know it today was subsequently authorized when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law.

Seventy years after the passage of that milestone law, the expiry of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in September 2026 offers an opportunity to bring Eisenhower’s transportation legacy into the twenty-first century. As surface transportation legislation is due for reauthorization at the end of the 2026 fiscal year, Congress has an opportunity to leverage this process in order to advance industrial policy goals across a host of fields; foremost among these is a materials revolution in the raw materials and production processes used to make cement, concrete, and asphalt—the building blocks of American transportation and building infrastructure. This revolution can be accelerated by the scaling up of domestically manufactured, low-carbon variants of these essential materials.

Congress should approach this surface transportation reauthorization by channeling the intent of the 1956 law, which bolstered economic growth and national security. It should be noted, however, that utilizing surface transportation in this broader stimulative way would represent a departure from contemporary approaches to highway legislation.

In recent authorizations, debates centered on issues such as resolving the fiscal solvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) and expanding federal support for multi-modal transportation (including as light rail and mass bus transit). In other words, authorizations tended to focus on what to build, how fast to build, and how to finance the system. But 2026 will push Congress to confront the question of what we build with; the materials revolution provides an answer and pursuing it will lead to valuable supply chain and emissions reductions benefits.

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Energy Financing Power: China’s Strategy and a Path Forward for the United States (American Affairs)

This op-ed was originally published by American Affairs on May 20, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

The United States faces a growing strategic challenge: China has emerged as the world’s dominant energy financier, outpacing the United States nearly ten to one in global markets. China’s growing influence not only directly challenges U.S. strategic interests but also excludes American businesses from immense economic opportunities in the world’s largest foreign markets, such as Brazil and India.

The United States should not try to out-subsidize China, but true American energy dominance requires global market leadership. To expand global markets for U.S. businesses and compete strategically with China, the United States needs to sharpen its export and development finance tools and coordinate them more effectively. For instance, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) should be empowered with greater scale and flexibility to pursue long-term investments that strengthen supply chains and national security. The U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) should have the capacity to back larger American-made energy projects and direct financing toward a wider set of energy technologies. Additionally, the establishment of Energy Security Compacts (ESCs), modeled on the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) existing framework, can leverage these financing tools to align agencies on strategy, support allies, and make energy a pillar of American industrial and economic policy.

China’s Foreign Finance Toolkit

On the morning of July 17, 2022, the floating oil and gas platform Almirante Barroso set sail from the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province, People’s Republic of China (PRC). After months at sea, it moored above the Búzios oilfield off the coast of Brazil. Petrobras, Brazil’s national oil utility, and two Chinese oil majors, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (cnooc) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), partnered under a joint venture to develop the Búzios field. The China Development Bank (CDB) also provided $1.5 billion in project finance to Petrobras for the Almirante Barroso, the sixth of eleven planned Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading Units (FPSOs) to operate in the Búzios.

Global Chinese investment in Brazil and in global energy markets extends far beyond the Búzios oilfield. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has an array of policy and financial tools that it uses to secure diplomatic influence, strengthen supply chains for domestic Chinese manufacturing, and gain physical control of strategic assets in partner countries. The energy industry is a focus for the PRC because of its importance for the domestic Chinese economy and its national security implications abroad.

Readers of American Affairs will be familiar with the PRC’s negotiated compromise between private “free market” activity and state-directed resource planning. This “state capitalist” system is supported by financial institutions with various degrees of distance from the central CCP command. Closest to the ruling party are the policy banks: the CDB and the Export-Import Bank of China (chexim). Outside their official policy organs, the PRC has stakes in a variety of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the four largest Chinese banks and some of the world’s largest energy companies, which receive strategic direction from the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (sasac), the arm of the PRC government that manages its ownership of private businesses. Furthest removed are private PRC-flagged companies that are not state-owned, like BYD and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), which have no direct connection to the CCP. After years of decentralization dating back to Deng Xiaoping’s tenure, Xi Jinping has aggressively reasserted control in Chinese capital markets, wielding this diverse toolkit of institutions in support of PRC strategy.

Since the turn of the century, the PRC has taken its state-owned system abroad, using the full range of its institutional toolkit. These efforts include, but are by no means limited to, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the PRC’s state-directed development program focused on the Eurasian continent. The PRC’s policy and state-owned banks also engage in sophisticated lending and energy investing alongside leading Western financial institutions.

Until recently, U.S. policymakers and the American public have been left in the dark about the extent of the PRC’s state-owned foreign investments, in part because of the complicated web of institutions that invest on behalf of the PRC. Existing data publication efforts from the AidData lab at the College of William and Mary, the American Enterprise Institute, and others are robust but limited in scope. It was possible to track individual deals from PRC entities, but no single data source existed for all PRC state-owned finance.

There was also a severe lack of information about U.S. investments in international public energy finance. No single source of public data existed on the activities of EXIM, DFC, and the various agencies offering assistance and foreign aid.

New research from Casey Kelly, Justin Williams, Jacob Kincer, and myself at ClearPath has solved these data gaps, which allows us to present comprehensive totals of U.S. and Chinese international public energy finance. Since 2015, China has outspent the United States $446 billion to $45 billion in foreign public energy finance. Without policy action, the United States stands to lose its competitive edge in foreign energy markets, which will hurt American manufacturers and cede strategic ground to the PRC. Policymakers should sharpen the policy toolkit to strengthen the American industrial base, lead the world in energy innovation, and prevail against the CCP. This article will utilize Brazil and India as case studies to analyze PRC and U.S. strategies and chart a path forward.

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An Innovation Strategy to Win the Global Energy Race (The Washington Times)

This op-ed was originally published by The Washington Times on April 21, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

America’s energy landscape is undergoing a major transformation. Demand is rising from data centers, advanced manufacturing and new domestic industrial activity. At the same time, global competition and geopolitical pressures are intensifying. Countries like China are investing across the full energy and technology landscape, from early-stage research through large-scale deployment, and doing so with a coordinated national strategy. In fact, recent analyses show that China has surpassed the U.S. in total R&D spend.

To compete, the United States will need a more integrated approach to innovation policy. The 119th Congress has an opportunity to strengthen energy and technology leadership by structuring federal policy to treat basic research and applied energy programs as parts of the same innovation system.

De-risking scientific discovery helps keep American inventors ahead, while de-risking commercialization ensures U.S. companies can lead in global markets. Without a strategy that connects these stages, the U.S. risks losing its innovation advantage.

Congress can begin addressing this gap by providing updated guidance and support for key federal research agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Fundamental research programs, particularly within DOE’s Office of Science the largest federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences are essential to maintaining leadership in areas like quantum, artificial intelligence and advanced computing. These investments enable long-term work that is unlikely to be funded by the private sector and provide access to national laboratory infrastructure that no single company could replicate.

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Drilling for Dominance: Leveraging American Innovation for Enhanced Geothermal (The Ripon Society)

This op-ed was originally published by The Ripon Society on April 20, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

A year into the second Trump administration, energy dominance – global leadership and security through abundant, innovative American energy – has gone from a mantra to a guiding principle. Few technologies are better positioned than geothermal power to deliver on this promise in an era of rising energy demand driven by AI and resurgent American manufacturing.

Clean, reliable, baseload geothermal power has quickly become a favored energy technology on both sides of the aisle. Once limited to rare, naturally occurring reservoirs of hot water or steam, next-generation technologies are dramatically expanding where this resource can be developed by innovative companies. Geothermal has made allies across the spectrum, gaining bipartisan political support in Congress and investment interest from venture capital, big tech and oil majors.

The technology’s rapid maturation reflects cutting-edge American innovation, leveraging technology pioneered during the shale revolution and applying it to previously inaccessible geothermal resources. By adapting techniques like horizontal drilling and hydraulic stimulation, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) engineer a reservoir from scratch. Companies like Fervo Energy have demonstrated how quickly the technology is advancing, having reduced drilling costs by 70 percent since its first wells in 2023.

But in an era of intense partisanship in Washington, the political progress may be even more notable as geothermal’s attributes meet energy priorities across the aisle. Conservatives see a resource that leverages American drilling expertise and provides reliable power. Meanwhile, progressives and climate hawks value its zero-carbon benefits. This convergence of interests has yielded concrete policy outcomes. In 2022, geothermal was included in the clean electricity tax credits enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by President Biden; in 2025, Republicans preserved geothermal’s eligibility for those same credits in President Trump’s signature Working Families Tax Cuts. The tax policy certainty demonstrated by major bills from both political parties reflects enduring bipartisan support for geothermal. That momentum continues today, as multiple bipartisan geothermal permitting bills have passed through House committees, with additional legislative action expected later this year.

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An American Strategy for Global Clean Energy Leadership (The Ripon Society)

This op-ed was originally published by The Ripon Society on April 20, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

Energy security is no longer just about how much energy a nation produces at home. While America has rightly focused on deploying energy systems domestically, competitors like China and Russia are working to manipulate and corner global energy markets to their advantage.  The world needs more energy to power the industries of the future, and the nation that builds the next generation of energy technologies, finances the infrastructure and secures the supply chains will win in those global markets and wield long-term strategic leverage.

The race for energy dominance has never been more vital than it is today, and America’s strategy to compete globally must meet this moment.

The scale of the opportunity is enormous. In 2025, worldwide energy investment reached roughly $3.3 trillion, including about $2.2 trillion for clean energy technologies and infrastructure. Over the rest of this decade, the world will need to add thousands of gigawatts of new power capacity driven by the expansion of AI, increasing electrification of economies and new industrial production at home and abroad. However, recent ClearPath analysis found that since 2015, China has outpaced the United States nearly ten-to-one in financing global energy projects, establishing itself as the primary partner to key nations.

Strategic clean energy systems will be among the world’s biggest growth markets. The question is whether the U.S. will be the leading solutions provider for that market or continue to watch China dominate.

China’s rise in this market is the result of a multi-decade strategy including massive state subsidies, unfair trading practices, intellectual property theft, poor environmental standards and a relentless focus on scale. China’s share of global manufacturing in six clean energy technologies – solar PV, wind, electric vehicles, batteries, electrolyzers and heat pumps – is around 70 percent. Additionally, China is the top producer of 20 critical minerals and commands a 70 percent market share of global refining capacity for strategic minerals that underpin modern energy technologies.

This competition is also expanding into technologies where the U.S. has an opportunity to seize the lead, if we move with urgency. Nuclear energy is a clear example. Today, China has 35 of the world’s 72 nuclear reactors under construction. Over the past decade, most new reactor construction starts globally have relied on Chinese or Russian designs. For its part, Russia has spent years building influence through reactor exports and long-term nuclear partnerships. That should be a wake-up call. Countries are not just choosing technologies. They are choosing suppliers, financing partners and strategic relationships that can last for generations.

The answer for the U.S. is not to copy or out-subsidize China and Russia. Instead, we should play to our uniquely American strengths and do it with much greater focus. The U.S. still has the best innovation ecosystem in the world. We have deep capital markets, world-class research institutions, top engineering talent and a private sector that can move faster and adapt better than any centrally planned economy. We also have something China does not: a network of allies and partners that want American energy.

That’s why the right strategy for American energy dominance is simple: innovate fast, build here and sell globally.

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Republicans Have the Playbook for Energy Prices (The Hill)

This op-ed was originally published by The Hill on February 27, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

Congress has entered 2026 on the back of some big wins. Enacting the Working Families Tax Cuts, passing permitting modernization through the House, and advancing legislation to strengthen our electrical grid has created a clear playbook to lower energy costs and further American energy dominance. 

As the representative of Colorado’s 8th District — home to one of the highest energy-producing counties in the U.S. — Congressman Evans is proud to be one of the first freshmen in 14 years placed on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This seat has given him the opportunity to both introduce and advocate for commonsense policies that will continue to make energy a winning issue for Republicans in 2026.

In the Working Families Tax Cuts, Republicans passed tax incentives that allow innovators to do what they do best — develop cutting-edge technologies that provide reliable clean power to millions. In the Trump administration’s executive orders, new nuclear energy is surging forward, with the potential to power millions of homes and a new wave of American manufacturing with safe, affordable and reliable energy.

Over the last year, gas prices have fallen to their lowest point since 2021, providing tangible relief to everyday Americans. The same thing can happen for energy prices. The Republican trifecta in Washington has a chance to keep building on conservative energy wins and scale new generation, invest in modern infrastructure to build new energy projects, and grow domestic industry and supply chains.

Supporting the development and deployment of all types of energy — from advanced nuclear and enhanced geothermal to solar, wind, storage, and natural gas with carbon capture — is a good first step toward providing safe, reliable and affordable energy. Congress has an opportunity to help take new, innovative technologies from lab to market. Leveraging public-private partnerships with the National Labs, including the National Lab of the Rockies, through Rep. Evans’ latest bipartisan legislation; the Energy Threat Analysis Center Act, along with the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing tool, present additional opportunities to build breakthrough technologies here in America.

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Put American Jobs First and Take U.S. Energy Global (The National Interest)

This op-ed was originally published by The National Interest on January 30, 2026. Click here to read the entire piece.

To outcompete China in global energy markets, the United States must modernize export finance to back American workers, innovation, and energy leadership abroad.

If America does not lead the future of energy technologies, China will. Think about financing major energy and infrastructure projects in emerging markets. This is an enormous challenge for American firms, and today, China fills that gap. Recent ClearPath analysis finds that since 2015, China has financed at least $446 billion in global energy infrastructure and exports, nearly 10 times what the United States has invested. How do they do it? They cheat. China offers massive subsidies, and its banks often rely on predatory lending practices that discourage market competition and disadvantage American firms. 

Thankfully, the Trump administration has put energy security firmly at the center of US foreign policy, ranging from efforts to promote American nuclear technologies abroad to strengthening partnerships to secure our critical mineral supply chains. The key to energy dominance is simple: innovate here, build here, and sell everywhere. To deliver, Washington must unleash private sector innovation and sharpen America’s competitive edge. Not by trying to match subsidies from the likes of China, but by using targeted financing tools to de-risk projects, attract private capital, and create favorable market conditions. The United States can empower its innovators and manufacturers to lead in global markets and support American jobs.

This was clearly articulated by the leadership of the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) as its new Chairman, John Jovanovic, is organizing the Bank around four strategic priorities: 1) putting American jobs first, 2) advancing US energy dominance, 3) ensuring supply chain security, and 4) clearing a path for industries of the future. These are pragmatic and yet inspiring goals that the American public can rally behind to win the global energy markets race. As Chairman Jovanovic put it, “Time is our biggest enemy and every day we come to work with a sense of urgency to support American workers, manufacturers and our nation’s economic security.”

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U.S. agriculture built the 20th century. Innovation will decide the 21st. (Agri-Pulse)

This op-ed was originally published by Agri-Pulse on December 2, 2025. Click here to read the entire piece.

Some of the world’s greatest accomplishments came from American farmers.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, dramatically increasing cotton production and fueling economic growth. In 1837, John Deere invented the steel plow, allowing farmers to cut through soil more efficiently. In the 1940s, Norman Borlaug developed methods to increase crop yields and help feed the world. 

But for the past two decades, America’s research and development has stalled. China has more than doubled our investments in agriculture R&D. India and Brazil are also on pace to pull ahead of the U.S. The world will need approximately 50% more food by 2050 to support a growing global population. To meet this demand, America’s manufacturers and farmers will have no choice but to innovate. At the same time, our government leaders must commit to supporting these innovations.

Under President Donald Trump’s first term, we made significant progress. The 2018 Farm Bill, which improved farmer and rancher access to Environmental Quality  Incentives Program grants, established the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority, or AgARDA, a new research program to replicate the success of the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and reauthorized the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a successful public-private partnership. The following year, Trump signed Executive Order 13874–Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products.

Additionally, the USDA developed the Agriculture Innovation Agenda, under then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, which set the ambitious goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent by 2050 while reducing agricultural emissions by half through the development of new and truly transformative innovations in agriculture.

These initiatives were a strong first step toward unleashing America’s agricultural dominance. But under the previous administration, we lost this momentum. Now, we have the opportunity to get back on track by passing a new farm bill.

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The Race to Scale Global Nuclear Energy (The National Interest)

This op-ed was originally published by The National Interest on October 2, 2025. Click here to read the entire piece.

The administration has set one of the boldest energy goals in American history: quadrupling nuclear energy production by 2050. This is an ambitious but necessary goal if the United States’ electricity demand is to double by 2050. Scaling nuclear energy would be necessary in order to come close to meeting that projected demand while also reducing emissions.

This goal would require a new reactor build-out at a scale never before seen in the United States. At current trajectories, the United States would need to add the equivalent capacity of our current fleet of 95 reactors every decade through 2050. The United States isn’t alone in its effort to meet this challenge. More than 30 other countries have set a goal to triple the global nuclear capacity. A targeted United States strategy and strong global leadership, along with allied cooperation on fuel, manufacturing, and financing, can make both goals a reality. 

The greatest asset the United States has to achieve this is a world-leading, innovative private sector. But even as tech and industrial customers are promising large investments, the United States must focus public and private resources to ensure companies have the tools to scale. Congress has demonstrated its commitment to nuclear energy with bipartisan policy and financial incentives, but more can be done to reduce investment risk as nuclear technology companies look to attract private capital, such as concepts like Senator Risch’s (R-ID) Accelerating Reliable Capacity Act.

In addition, the United States must work effectively with its allies. Countries like Canada have a reliable supply of uranium, Japan has nuclear fuel recycling expertise, and Japan and South Korea have robust manufacturing capabilities focused on international collaboration and export-driven growth. Furthermore, the United States and the UK just signed a partnership to collaborate on nuclear energy exports to expand the global market. Finally, with countries like Poland and Romania seeking alternatives to Russian energy in Eastern Europe, the United States has many opportunities for partnerships.

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