The article argues that the international trading system has failed, particularly impacting the United States, due to the rise of harmful industrial policies in countries with large trade surpluses like China and Germany. President Trump’s use of tariffs aims to address immediate national security concerns, particularly the fentanyl crisis, but it highlights broader systemic issues. Rather than a failure of free trade, the problem lies in the reality that free trade does not exist. Countries like the U.S. suffering from trade deficits are presented as innocent victims of this distorted trading landscape.
The global trading system has failed not because free trade doesn't work, but because free trade doesn't exist, leading to significant trade imbalances.
Countries with large trade surpluses, such as China and Germany, have adopted industrial policies that disrupt the postwar trading order and harm deficit nations.
The U.S. and Britain, running sizable trade deficits, are the innocent parties in this drama of a distorted international trading system.
Tariffs imposed by President Trump on China are a response to an urgent national security issue but should not obscure the fundamental failures of the global system.
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