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Inside Out & Outside In
Opinion
David Dodwell
David Dodwell

Inside Out | As war in Ukraine emboldens US protectionists, free trade is losing its ability to hold the peace

  • Biden is pushing his protectionist agenda as raging shortages and rising prices are made worse by the war, amid US worries over its dependency on China
  • If a wedge is driven against China, then the consensus over the value of free trade weakens further – along with its power to foster peaceful cooperation

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US President Joe Biden attends a virtual roundtable on securing critical minerals, at the White House in Washington on February 22. Photo: Reuters
David Dodwell
Just a month ago, I complained that we were watching the sun set on a four-decade era of liberal world trade. Nails in the coffin included a rabid unilateralist Donald Trump, problematic US-China trade relations and the pandemic’s “resiliency” narrative that has given protectionists common cause worldwide. Russia’s crude invasion of Ukraine has added yet another nail.
The mood was captured powerfully by US President Joe Biden in his first State of the Union address last week. After standing ovations for his passionate attack on Vladimir Putin’s inexcusable land-grab, he leapt with animation, and to more standing applause, into the protectionist “building a better America” agenda that he has adopted enthusiastically and without shame from his dangerously unilateralist predecessor.

“When we use taxpayers’ dollars to rebuild America, we’re going to do it by buying American. Buy American products. Support American jobs [ …] We’ll buy American to make sure everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel on highway guardrails is made in America,” he said.

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He promised to “make more cars and semiconductors in America, more infrastructure and innovation in America, more goods moving faster and cheaper in America, more jobs where you can earn a good living in America. Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America.”

The pillars of his protectionist agenda are now well set, and summarised in his call for “resilience, security and sustainability”. As if the vulnerabilities revealed by the global pandemic were not sufficient to justify his reshoring agenda, Putin’s bloody sortie, in creating an existential threat to a peaceful and united Europe and a market-roiling challenge to global food security and commodity supplies, provided the icing on the cake.

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Putin to ‘pay a price’ for Ukraine invasion Biden says in his first State of the Union speech

Putin to ‘pay a price’ for Ukraine invasion Biden says in his first State of the Union speech

Biden’s election may have restored civility and an openness to multilateral cooperation to US foreign policy, but the espousal of protectionism has also moved firmly to the heart of US foreign and trade policies.

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