The United States has been the world's dominant economic power for the past 70 years.
But the balance has shifted, or evened, thanks to the power of globalization, and people in developing countries are increasingly enjoying the shared prosperity it can bring.
There is no desire to replace the US, but a gradual move away from hegemony towards equal development and common benefits does not seem unhealthy to most observers.
Politics – and trade – are nuanced for most. Compromise does not always win plaudits, but in diplomacy and negotiation it is the path to progress.
For US President Donald Trump, however, trade is black and white. To his zero-sum outlook, the idea of common development doesn't add up. If another country is doing well, the US must be losing.
This is why, as Paul Waldman notes in the Washington Post, Trump always claims the rest of the world is "laughing at us" on trade.
"If we import something from another country, even if comparative advantage makes it perfectly reasonable for us to do so,” Waldman writes, “then the other country has 'won' and the United States has 'lost'.”
By this mindset, at the extreme, the US should make everything it needs itself, export to the world and forget about imports. Free trade is good, so long as Washington holds all the cards.
And it’s not as if the system hasn’t worked out well for most Americans, citizens of the wealthiest country in the world with high, if unequal, disposable incomes to match.
Nevertheless, Trump looks at the success of other countries, and rather than seeing opportunities for all, believes the US has been cheated. He wants to plunder some of that wealth he thinks has been “taken” unfairly and sail away in isolation, with global supply chains ruptured and US multinationals forced home.
Globalization has not created competitive markets, benefiting US consumers and businesses along the way, in the US president’s eyes. It has stolen jobs that he regards as rightfully American.
Of course, every leader wants a strong economy and few question that there are inconsistencies in the global trading system.
But rather than work through existing structures to address his grievances, Trump seeks to break them with little care for the consequences.
Rather than work across the aisle to fix the flaws in the US economy – the crumbling infrastructure, low productivity, the lack of training for the modern world, the income gap – Trump longs for a bygone era while dividing the US and blaming outsiders.
As the globe becomes more interconnected, as most countries compete but cooperate to mutual benefit, Trump seems to see the world outside the US only as a threat.
He attacks longstanding allies, breaks multilateral agreements, and tries to cut the legs from the global trading system in an attempt to rebuild an America of yesteryear.
The rhetoric may appeal to some in a midterm election year. But the world has moved on. Products are made across borders, supply chains are global. Businesses and consumers in the US and elsewhere will suffer from this outdated outlook.
The path of economic nationalism the US is taking leads in one direction: less wealth and fewer jobs for everyone, Americans included.
