Commentary: Foreign policy should be built in the Midwest

American cities and states are laboratories of innovation and democracy. In an increasingly globalized world, they also help redefine how we think about U.S. diplomacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that local governments — city, state, county — are at the center of addressing complex global threats that ignore national borders. Our communities face other challenges, from terrorism to climate change, that require innovation and global collaboration. That collaboration that should begin at home.

U.S. Reps. Ted Lieu, Gregory Meeks and Joe Wilson and U.S. Sens.