Amid the violent challenges to the world system in Ukraine and the Middle East, it’s easy to overlook the corroding economic pillars of international order. Under President Biden, American economic policy is morphing into a toxic combination of protectionism and green activism guaranteed to slow growth and create global friction.
That matters. Seventy-five years ago, in 1948, the wheels were coming off post-World War II American foreign policy. Moscow was toppling democratic governments in Europe. Mao Zedong was marching on Beijing. Violence stalked the Middle East as fighting between newly independent Israel and its neighbors created a massive humanitarian crisis and threatened a wider war.