With the end of the Cold War and of a period during which foreign assistance was motivated frequently by East-West security and political considerations, a debate has emerged over setting a new foreign aid rationale. The debate has included calls advocating a much more direct use of America foreign assistance to support U.S. commercial interests, especially for programs administered by the Agency for International Development (AID). Proponents assert that the active promotion of the U.S. trade position should be one of the top U.S. foreign policy interests and, therefore, the foreign aid program should be used on behalf of that purpose. They argue that the United States should increase assistance in the form of capital projects that can provide opportunities for American exporters, reduce cash transfer aid that in some cases is spent on non-U.S. products, and strengthen "Buy America" provisions in foreign aid laws.

North Korea is undergoing a wrenching phase of adjustment to an uncertain post-Soviet world. Its government is reined in by two major constraints: fear that any political or economic reform would have the same fatal consequence for itself as it had for the former Soviet Union and other erstwhile allies; and fear that the United States, South Korea, and other "enemies" would stop at nothing to overthrow the communist regime of the North. The United States has a major stake in the outcome of North Korea's effort to deal with its daunting task.

On Oct. 7, 1992, Hong Kong's new Governor, Christopher F. Patten, unveiled a set of proposals to expand the voting franchise in Hong Kong and broaden the scope of other democratic initiatives. The People's Republic of China, which resumes sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, has objected strenuously to the proposals, claiming they are a violation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong. British and Hong Kong officials deny this, stating that the proposals deal with matters not mentioned in the Joint Declaration.

On May 25, 1989, President Bush proposed that the United States undertake the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII), a series of discussions with Japan to address certain fundamental Japanese economic policies and business practices that the United States claims impede U.S. exports and investments. The SII was, in part, a Bush Administration response to the stubborn U.S. trade deficit and other problems that have caused friction in the U.S. trading relationship with Japan. It was also a response to congressional pressure to deal more aggressively with Japanese unfair trade practices and to calls from critics to adopt a "managed" trade policy toward Japan.