America is First, Don’t Blow It

As the America-first base cheers the axing of the so-called liberal world order they should keep a few things in mind. For one, despite the name, it’s not liberal. It was constructed over the last seven decades by real politik and pro-business practitioners to advance US political and economic interests. It is called liberal not in the political, but in the economic sense of liberalism, i.e. open, competitive markets for goods, investment, and labor.

This liberal world order was in truth constructed often to the detriment and over the protests of our adversaries and trading partners alike and over the protests of much of the politically liberal elite. It was not a giveaway. The system benefits us more than any other nation. We designed it like that and until now fought ferociously to maintain our position in it. It is the “killer deal” and the envy of everyone else. Others laugh and rub their hands as we start to dismantle it.

The trade deficit is not a sign we are “losing.” The persistent deficit is the sign that we so rigged the system that for the last four plus decades we have been able to use the global financial order to consume considerably more than we produce. The trade deficit persists because the United States is the globally favored Investment destination and the US Dollar (USD) is the number one popular currency. Much trade happens and is priced in USD. The majority of other countries’ foreign reserves, and many sovereign wealth assets are held in USD. Every time a country or company accumulates Dollars and buys our…