The Brookings Institution

Oil markets have been rattled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—but prices haven't hit crisis levels. Why not?

The short answer: temporary buffers. Emergency reserve releases, floating oil stockpiles, and pipeline workarounds have all helped absorb the shock. But those buffers won't last. Ben Harris and Robin Brooks assess when prices could reach more alarming levels—and what happens to prices once it runs out.

The timing of the impending crude crisis | Brookings With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and reserves depleting, Robin Brooks and Ben Harris estimate a timeline of increasing oil prices.

Incumbents Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, Thomas Massie in Kentucky, and now John Cornyn in Texas have all lost their Republican primaries to Trump-backed challengers this spring. Elaine Kamarck breaks down how closed primary rules shaped those outcomes—and why victories in primaries don't always translate to strength in general elections.

So far, Trump's political revenge campaigns have been successful | Brookings Elaine Kamarck argues Trump's revenge primaries are short-term wins that could become long-term liabilities.

The U.S. Postal Service has been losing money for years, and America's housing shortage shows no signs of easing.

New analysis from Aaron Shroyer, Ben McAdams, and Glen Nuckolls finds that redeveloping underutilized postal properties could produce up to 237,000 housing units nationwide—including roughly 117,000 in communities where new supply is most urgently needed. They lay out what policy changes would allow USPS to treat its real estate as an asset rather than a passive holding.

Delivering value: Building housing on Postal Service property | Brookings This report proposes a strategy to address both of these challenges: using the Postal Service's real estate portfolio to build housing and generate new ongoing revenues.

Many feared that the sweeping tariffs of Trump's second term would deal a serious blow to the U.S. economy—but so far, the impact has been more muted than expected. So where have the costs actually fallen?

In a new episode of the Brookings Podcast on Economic Activity, Pablo Fajgelbaum and Amit Khandelwal join Kari Heerman to discuss their research on the effects of these tariffs: what goals they have and haven't met, where the costs have landed, and what to expect next.

Why haven't tariffs significantly damaged the economy? | Brookings The tariff increases during the second Trump administration have been historic in their magnitude and scope, dwarfing even those from Trump's first term. Many feared that these tariffs would have dramatic impacts on the economy, but for the most part, t...

Can a president reshape how Americans vote by executive order?

In March, President Trump signed an order making changes to mail-in and absentee voting—the second elections-related executive order of his second term. Samara Angel and Jonathan Katz break down the legal concerns around executive overreach, questions about whether these changes can even be implemented, and the potential for voter disenfranchisement.

Trump's new elections executive order and what it would mean for voters | Brookings President Trump signed the second elections-focused executive order of his second term, which experts claim attempts executive overreach.

When a parent is detained by immigration authorities, what happens to their children? New research attempts to answer that question with hard data—and finds that the scale is far larger than official government figures suggest.

Tara Watson and co-authors estimate that more than 145,000 U.S. citizen children have experienced a parent detained since January 2025. About 36% of those children are under age 6. Yet there is no systematic government approach to protecting them—and most families actively avoid the child welfare system out of fear.

The administration has detained 400,000 immigrants: What do we know about their children? | Brookings With 400,000 immigrants detained by the administration, researchers examine what the data reveals about the children left behind and the policy implications for their well-being.

AI competition between the U.S. and China is intense—but both countries face the same threat from terrorist groups and criminal networks that could use AI to launch cyberattacks or develop biological weapons.

With the Trump-Xi summit underway, Kyle Chan and Ryan Hass examine whether the two countries can find common ground on AI safety without compromising their strategic interests. Their answer: yes—and here's how.

Can the US and China cooperate on AI? | Brookings The United States and China can continue to compete vigorously in AI while taking practical steps to reduce shared risks.