Never before have both main presidential candidates broken so totally with Washington orthodoxy on globalisation,even as the White House refuses to give up. The problem however goes much deeper than trade dealsEnemies in politics and opposed on nearly all fronts, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have found themselves united together against Barack Obama and a tradition that has kept America in charge of the world economy’s rules for more than 70 years. The next president of the United States is rethinking free trade.
In Washington, or that tradition was taken for granted for so long that it rarely attracted much attention even in the trade press,let alone dominated the politics pages of an entire election season. But in 2016 America’s faltering faith in free trade has become the most sensitive controversy in DC – never before have both main presidential candidates broken with the orthodoxy that globalisation is always good for Americans.
The problem is that over the years the interest of American corporations and the interests of Americans have diverged Related: How Donald Trump upended Republican orthodoxy on free trade Given that the economy is kind of coming back legal now, I just didn’t understand why trade was so prominent this race Related: Clinton v Trump on the economy: speeches underscore competing visions Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com