, Columnist
Why America Will Lose Its Mercantilist Game
China is a step ahead of the new order the US is creating.
Mercantilism worked for some European empires, but China is adept at its new incarnation.
Photographer: Roger Viollet/Getty Images
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Under Donald Trump, the world has taken a sharp turn back toward the 17th century doctrine of mercantilism — the notion that trade is a zero-sum game in which countries should be self-sufficient and focus on exporting far more than they import. It worked for Louis XIV and other early European empires, and the aim of America First is to reintroduce it with the US this time the victor.