Maybe the greatest trick the neoliberal ever pulled was convincing the world that his politics were an extension of post-World War II policy. By the conventional narrative, American policymakers woke up to the folly of “protectionism” in the 1930s and embraced instead a model of global “free trade.” The seeds policymakers had planted in the postwar era at last sprouted into the World Trade Organization, which contained almost all the countries in the world. With the banner of “free trade” reaching from Beijing to Berlin to Boston, at last the eschaton of a unified global market had been immanentized. And now the big, bad populists (or nationalists—pick your demon) are threatening to upend that century-long project.
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