Today's Headlines and Commentary

The United States and Canada agreed on a trade deal to preserve NAFTA on Sunday just ahead of a deadline set by the Trump administration. The trilateral agreement will be known as the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), reports the New York Times.

Beijing cancelled an annual security meeting with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, which had been scheduled for mid-October; the move displays increasingly frosty relations between Washington and Beijing as China had previously touted this meeting as an excellent forum for the two sides to have a productive discussion, says the Times.

An American warship sailed very close to Chinese-held outposts in the disputed Spratly island chain in a challenge to Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea amidst growing U.S.-China tensions, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. and Japan’s plan to move a Marine air base on Okinawa to a different part of the island may be challenged by Okinawa’s new governor, Denny Tamaki, who is an outspoken critic of American military bases in Okinawa, reports the Times.

The State Department’s special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, announced that the U.S. would maintain a presence in Syria until Iran withdraws its soldiers and militia, reports the Washington Post.

Iran launched missile strikes in eastern Syria directed at supposed Sunni Islamic terrorist hideouts in retaliation for an attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, reports the Post.

ICYMI: Last Weekend on Lawfare

Quinta Jurecic uploaded the special counsel’s office newest brief in Miller v. United States, defending the legality of the special counsel's role and work under the Appointments Clause

Jen Patja Howell posted the most recent episode of the Lawfare Podcast, a conversation between Brookings Senior Fellow Robert Kagan and Susan Glasser of the New Yorker on Kagan’s new book, “The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World."

Margarita Konaev and Tanisha Fazal analyzed factors affecting the efficacy of international humanitarian law on the strategy of armed non-state groups, focused on the use of landmines.

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