Yoyuki Otake: On March 4, 1933, during the Great Depression, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his inaugural address for his first term in office, saying, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This quote, which inspired the American people during the crisis, has not gone out of style today.
Roosevelt also said: “International trade relations are also extremely important, but in view of the times and the necessity, the establishment of a healthy domestic economy is a prerequisite. This shows the determination to prioritize economic recovery through Roosevelt’s New Deal, even though it was called “inward-looking.
The new U.S. President Joe Biden, who is aware of his predecessor, may have the same idea. Although keen to return to the United States as a world ally, domestic dilemmas looked set to make this goal difficult to achieve.
Roosevelt, President of the United States, at his inauguration in March 1933
The United States has been plagued by the chronic diseases of political, economic and social division. Making it serious are the maladministration of Donald Trump and the spread of the New Crown (Chinese Communist virus) Epidemic.
With a wealth gap of some 650 billionaires holding $4 trillion in wealth and over 10 million unemployed, hate crimes at their highest level in 11 years, and political strife that has culminated in the occupation of the federal Capitol, the United States is deeply divided in what U.S. historian David Brett has called the “Cold Civil War.
This is followed by the world’s largest number of new coronavirus infections and deaths. In a paper titled “The United States of Despair,” American economist Angus Deaton and others say it is possible to exacerbate the desperate deaths of the weak caused by suicide, drug and alcohol dependence.
The Biden regime born out of this dilemma is on shaky ground. The Republican right has questioned his legitimacy as president, and the confrontation with the Democratic left’s line cannot be dissolved. U.S. international politics scholar Ian Bremer argues that the Biden regime will have the most prominent vulnerability since President Jimmy Carter, who took office in 1977.
How will it challenge a national peril of this magnitude with limited capital? Just as Roosevelt did in the past, Biden will naturally turn “inward.
Campaign promises to create jobs through huge manufacturing support include measures to promote the expansion of U.S. product sourcing and the return of production to the country. This is evidence that Biden will not resist the trade protectionism that wants to promote “Buy American” and “Made in America.
The other is diplomacy in the service of the middle class. Even with a positive attitude toward international cooperation to prevent climate change and protect human rights, there is a lack of enthusiasm to promote the expansion and deepening of free trade zones.
The expansion of democratism and liberal economy is the end of the “Wilson era” that considers itself the mission of the United States. U.S. political scientist Walter Russell Mead points out that the foreign policy that originated with President Woodrow Wilson is difficult to recover, arguing that with the increase in authoritarian states, the risks and costs of international intervention, and the rise of populism, there will be a shift to a more “inward” posture.
This is the result of “superpower fatigue” of the American people who are tired of dominating the world. According to a survey by the Eurasia Group, 36 percent of respondents said the United States should reduce unnecessary international interventions and focus on domestic problem solving and democratic soundness.
Of course, the extreme trade protectionism and isolationism that Trump has been forcing forward may be revised. However, it should be recognized that the U.S., which has leveraged domestic-first trade and industrial policies to protect its domestic economy, locked in a new U.S.-China cold war and containment of Russia, etc., and invested diplomatic resources efficiently, may be entering a new normal.
This would be a more realistic and mature Biden’s “America First 2.0” compared to Trump’s. Instead of asking “what has the United States done for us”, the Time may come when countries think “what should we do together with the United States”.
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