The New Political Economy of U.S. Trade

This paper examines the transformation of U.S. trade politics in the context of rising populism, economic nationalism, and changing global production patterns. The authors analyze how shifts in domestic political coalitions, regional economic dislocation, and geopolitical competition have altered traditional support for free trade in the United States. The paper argues that contemporary trade politics increasingly reflect broader concerns about inequality, national security, and globalization’s distributional consequences.