American economic nationalism since Trump’s presidency: an end to the US-led
neo(liberal) international order being based on economic principles such laissez faire?
Name: W. Hassoo
Student number: x
Course: Global Political Economy and Geopolitics
Lecturer: Prof. dr. E. B. van Apeldoorn & Prof. Dr. P. Mello
Date: March 2023
Grade: 7.6
Word count: 3682
Introduction
1
, ‘’Ironically one had to wait for a billionaire real estate mogul winning the White House, to
make for a real, if still only partial, break with neoliberalism’’ (Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff,
2022, p. 10). Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has pioneered the (neo)liberal
world order. This US-led liberal world, sometimes referred to as the liberal international
order, is founded on a set of universal, Wester rules-based, and peaceful structured
relationships. The foundation of this concept rests on principles such as laissez faire, free
marketeers, globalization of industry, political rights, respect for human rights, democracy,
and sovereign equality of states, social egalitarians, detestation of tyranny and spread of
democracy throughout the globe (Carvin, 2022, p. 4).
Yet, Donald Trump becoming the 45th president
of the US and the emergence of multiple crises, such as COVID-19, has raised questions
about the (future) existence of this US-led (neo)liberal order. According to Van Apeldoorn
and De Graaff (2022), the administration of Trump opted to combine market-making
domestic deregulation with market-correction through external tariffs, therefore the
translation into tangible measures has at best been ineffective. For instance, the free market
economy in the US internally undergone massive interventionist polices under Trump, in
combination with some neo-mercantilist market correction externally, in terms of the ongoing
Chinese rise triggering a more interventionist attitude from the US government in the market
(Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff, 2022, p. 12). Stepping away from Trump's "America First"
policies and with the new Biden administration having an ideological recommitment to
neoliberalism, it has so far demonstrated some strong continuities with Trump as well,
pointing to a consolidation of the reconfiguration of the roles the US state plays in its and in
the global economy that we have witnessed in recent years (Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff,
2022, p. 12). In a policy brief, Churche (2020) argued that Biden’s Made in America supply
chain and CHIPS and Science Act policies (Horobin & Delfs, 2020), have been characterized
by a continuation of Trump’s abuse of free trade under terms such as national security –
framed around the central myth of Trump’s Administration on the US manufacturing jobs
being threatened by free trade agreements with other countries Churche, 2020, p. 1).
So, it appears that both Biden and Trump's economic policies point to the
emergence of a new era of economic nationalism in the US politics within the context of
political economy. In a large extent, this state-led economic nationalism was clear under
Trump, not only in his rhetoric but also in the economic policies under his administration.
Although some research has been done on Biden Administration being a defender of the US
2
neo(liberal) international order being based on economic principles such laissez faire?
Name: W. Hassoo
Student number: x
Course: Global Political Economy and Geopolitics
Lecturer: Prof. dr. E. B. van Apeldoorn & Prof. Dr. P. Mello
Date: March 2023
Grade: 7.6
Word count: 3682
Introduction
1
, ‘’Ironically one had to wait for a billionaire real estate mogul winning the White House, to
make for a real, if still only partial, break with neoliberalism’’ (Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff,
2022, p. 10). Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has pioneered the (neo)liberal
world order. This US-led liberal world, sometimes referred to as the liberal international
order, is founded on a set of universal, Wester rules-based, and peaceful structured
relationships. The foundation of this concept rests on principles such as laissez faire, free
marketeers, globalization of industry, political rights, respect for human rights, democracy,
and sovereign equality of states, social egalitarians, detestation of tyranny and spread of
democracy throughout the globe (Carvin, 2022, p. 4).
Yet, Donald Trump becoming the 45th president
of the US and the emergence of multiple crises, such as COVID-19, has raised questions
about the (future) existence of this US-led (neo)liberal order. According to Van Apeldoorn
and De Graaff (2022), the administration of Trump opted to combine market-making
domestic deregulation with market-correction through external tariffs, therefore the
translation into tangible measures has at best been ineffective. For instance, the free market
economy in the US internally undergone massive interventionist polices under Trump, in
combination with some neo-mercantilist market correction externally, in terms of the ongoing
Chinese rise triggering a more interventionist attitude from the US government in the market
(Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff, 2022, p. 12). Stepping away from Trump's "America First"
policies and with the new Biden administration having an ideological recommitment to
neoliberalism, it has so far demonstrated some strong continuities with Trump as well,
pointing to a consolidation of the reconfiguration of the roles the US state plays in its and in
the global economy that we have witnessed in recent years (Van Apeldoorn & De Graaff,
2022, p. 12). In a policy brief, Churche (2020) argued that Biden’s Made in America supply
chain and CHIPS and Science Act policies (Horobin & Delfs, 2020), have been characterized
by a continuation of Trump’s abuse of free trade under terms such as national security –
framed around the central myth of Trump’s Administration on the US manufacturing jobs
being threatened by free trade agreements with other countries Churche, 2020, p. 1).
So, it appears that both Biden and Trump's economic policies point to the
emergence of a new era of economic nationalism in the US politics within the context of
political economy. In a large extent, this state-led economic nationalism was clear under
Trump, not only in his rhetoric but also in the economic policies under his administration.
Although some research has been done on Biden Administration being a defender of the US
2
