Trump's U.S. falls prey to the Dutch disease

THIS would not be the first time in history that a world-leading nation suffers from a severe cultural and social backlash at home and abdicates its leadership role in global commerce.

- JOHN WEST

Superficially viewed, Donald Trump's attacks on the global economic and strategic order appear as attacks on the rest of the world. However, the root cause of his attacks is entirely domestic in origin.

A large share of the American people is not benefiting from the United States’ extraordinary riches and feels marginalized in a society dominated by cosmopolitan and socially progressive elites.

Abdicating generations of U.S. leadership

This is astonishing insofar as the contemporary trade and economic order of the world has been shaped by at least three generations of U.S. government and business leaders.

Their concerted actions have enabled the United States to become - and, for a long time, remain - the world’s leading economy and technological powerhouse. U.S. companies dominate the world economy especially in the technology space.

The Trumpian “pitchfork moment”

And yet, the Trumpian “pitchfork moment” is underpinned by a gigantic cultural, social and political backlash against the economic and strategic order that the United States constructed so carefully following the Second World War.

To the Trump team, it does not matter for a minute that the established strategic order - based on NATO and alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand - has brought peace and stability to large parts of the world and underpinned global economic growth.

While the United States’ partners may contribute less than the U.S. government to these alliances, the United States has derived plenty of economic benefits from its dominant position in world affairs.