Editor's Introduction Free Trade: Theory, History, and Practice

摘要

Amid the impeachment of Donald Trump that dominated much of the news cycle in late 2019 and early 2020, the United States negotiated and signed a massive new trade deal with Mexico and Canada. Replacing the highly controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provided updated rules of trade between the three nations, placing greater emphasis on e-commerce. The fact that USMCA passed through the U.S. Congress with widespread bipartisan support further confirms what many economic observers have noted: free trade is no longer a foundational pillar of U.S. foreign policy. Not only does USMCA allow for auto quotas it also provides a poison pill that allows the United States to leave USMCA if either Canada or Mexico enter into a free trade agreement with a non-market economy (a reference to China). Coupled with President Trump's new tariffs on steel and the removal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the United States seems to have substituted economic nationalism for free trade as a geopolitical strategy.