When the World Closed Its Doors: The Covid-19 Tragedy and the Future of Borders

Edward Alden is Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Alden’s career spans more than three decades in journalism, think tanks, and academia. He was the bureau chief for the Financial Times newspaper in Toronto, Canada, and Washington, DC before joining the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007. In addition to his own books and articles, he has worked with senior US policymakers on in-depth investigations of issues such as US immigration policy, US trade policy, border security, and the future of work. Since 2019 he has also been a visiting professor at Western Washington University, and he currently writes a column for Foreign Policy.

Laurie Trautman is the Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University--the only one of its kind in the United States. As a leading expert in Canada-US border policy issues, she works across academia, government, and the private sector to improve cross-border mobility and collaboration. In addition to authoring policy briefs and academic publications, Dr. Trautman is an active participant in cross-border working groups and a regular contributor to the media. She is also a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oregon.