tariffs. glorious tariffs.
As it transpires, President-elect Trump’s call to put ‘America first’ and cease its foreign adventures is nothing new and has a well-established pedigree in US history.
There’s no denying that the Mayflower’s pilgrims wanted to be left well and truly alone when they set sail for pastures new in 1620, a view the Founding Fathers more than bought into. They saw America’s separation from Europe as an ideal opportunity to cultivate a new-ish nation in solitude. “Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course” George Washington explained in his 1796 farewell address. Then, as now, isolationism did not imply a total retreat from the world stage, rather a policy of avoiding foreign alliances and indulging in conflicts only if provoked and attacked.
This stance, the reverse of what we’ve grown accustomed to of late, proved to be the prevailing mindset for a century and more. With the notable exception of the Mexican War, which expanded US borders to include California and much of the west, the infant nation openly disdained military escapades outside of its direct control. A turning point proved to be Cuba’s revolt against Spain at the end of the 19th century which saw US declare war against the colonial nation and ultimately, the ceding of Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the victor. A more muscular foreign policy was widely adopted and characterised by the credo “speak softly and carry a big stick”.
This was until their entry into World War One in 1917 and its subsequent end a year later. Witnessing the sickening carnage throughout Europe, America withdrew into the open pursuit of money, fun and commercial dominance. Until Pearl Harbour. WWII began decades of international engagement, with the US cementing its superpower status through its leading role in such multilateral institutions as the United Nations. The Cold War, described by President Eisenhower as a battle “for the soul of man himself” cemented this stance for a generation. However, the forays in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan witnessed a public resurgence in isolationism and recent polls display the widely held belief that the country should mind its own business internationally.
Trump’s wilder pronouncements are a cause for concern on future world order. His denouncement of Nato as obsolete and suggestion that the US should not defend members who do not pay their fair share of defence costs places the support of the Ukraine war in immediate jeopardy. Mind, America currently spends more on defence than the next seven nations combined, and not always with successful outcomes!
What we are witnessing today is something akin to the isolationism of old but not yet to the extent of the 1920s and 30s. However, with tariff levels of up to 60% being bandied about, a global recession is not hard to envisage. In arguing that the US should focus on its own problems and avoid complex foreign entanglements, Trump is now in the mainstream of American opinion. Parodying President Monroe’s 1821 declaration that America did not go “abroad in search of monsters to destroy” Trump, for once, hit the nail on the head by stating “we do not go abroad in search of enemies.”
