As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump campaigned on promises that would reverse years of trade liberalization. Whether or not he triggers a global trade war, his policies are undermining America’s standing as the preeminent world leader.
Is the free trade party over? Competition certainly has its losers. But the widespread discontent with globalization misses a crucial point: only more trade, not less, will reverse the slowdown in world productivity.
Who’s afraid of globalization? Everybody from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders, it seems, and environmentalists and factory workers in between. An unlikely coalition of skeptics from across the political spectrum is driving the anti-trade movement.
