Whoever controls energy controls the future

There are multiple competing theories about what drives the anti-green policies embraced by US President Donald Trump.

- Mark Blyth is Professor of International Economics at Brown University. Daniel Driscoll is Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Virginia.

Perhaps they reflect the influence of carbon-heavy industries in Republican-controlled states. Or perhaps they channel ideological hostility to the notion that the state should play any kind of planning role in the economy.

Whatever the case, it is increasingly apparent that the Trump administration wants to halt decarbonisation not only in the US but globally. Viewed from this perspective, much of the recent US policy incoherence starts to make more sense — albeit in a dangerously regressive way.

The US sits atop vast reserves of fossil fuels, which have underpinned its national prosperity for decades. They have lit cities, powered factories, stimulated postwar job growth, and forged broad regional political coalitions among labour, agriculture, and corporations. They are also highly profitable commodities, with exports creating global dependence on US supplies. Fossil fuels are a core component of the country’s political economy — and a key factor in US domestic and foreign policymaking.