, Columnist
A Clean Technology Trade War Shows How Empires Fall
US hegemony may be hard to maintain. It will be all but impossible if it retreats into an isolationist shell.
Protectionism is unforgiving.
Photographer: Bettmann/Getty Images
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How does a great trading nation cope with the realization that its glory days are over?
For the first country to head down that path — Britain — the outcome was an identity crisis that’s still ongoing after more than a century. As the US pauses at the same crossroads, it needs to consider whether free trade or protectionism promises the more prosperous route.