Trump’s self-defeating vision of Fortress America must not become reality

Donald Trump’s call to “make America great again” went down well with some members of the electorate. His “America First” rhetoric strongly appealed to Americans who find themselves shut out from the past few decades of economic prosperity. In this narrative, globalisation is the underlying cause for economic stagnation and the uneven distribution of wealth.

Blaming globalisation is palatable, linking frustration over one’s economic insecurity to foreign nebula beyond one’s control. But, like all forms of scapegoating, it offers at best an incomplete explanation. At worst, it distracts attention from efforts to address the underlying problem. It also risks alienating much of the outside world.

Anyone who has read headlines over the past year has some idea of a possible Trump foreign policy. From tariffs on Chinese exports to a reinforced border with Mexico, Trump’s pronouncements can be divided into three basic categories.

Trump appoints three hardliners to national security and attorney general positions

The basic building block is, of course, the wall: the one that Trump promised to build on America’s southern border. But other walls loom. A ban on Muslims – later modified to a pledge on “extreme vetting” – could affect over a billion people attending US universities, patronising the country’s hospitals and clinics, investing in US companies and real estate, and so on.