After US tariffs destroy what is left of the world economic order, policy that values free markets and free trade will be due for a comeback.
While much of the world recoils at the turmoil in markets, the upending of the global economy and the overwhelming uncertainty, I am feeling an odd sense of calm. Why? Because I am a proud neoliberal, and after President Donald Trump’s tariffs destroy what is left of the post-neoliberal world order, neoliberalism itself will be due for a comeback.
There is no perfect policy. Everything has trade-offs and creates winners and losers. But free trade and markets tend to make societies richer, more productive and more innovative. Over the last several decades, neoliberal policies helped reduce poverty and raise living standards, kept interest rates and inflation low, and enabled astounding innovations.
None of that protected neoliberalism from a backlash, which started with traditional lefties. Entire books were written about how free-trade-loving economists led the world astray. Research documenting how free trade hurt some workers was used as proof of general market failure. Eventually, even the right joined in the criticism.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Bloomberg Opinion (paywall)
___________________
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
Photo by shaunl/Getty Images
