Since January 20th, 2017, Trump has told the world that the United States will recede from the global stage. This populist driven desire to stop globalization and fuel a false sense of nationalism is a grave mistake, especially in this increasingly integrated economy. Trump pulled out from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on his first day of office; Trump claimed he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and since has given mixed signals on the deal, yet to formally announce any policy; increasing tariffs on essential trading partners, which has, very unsurprisingly, started a trade war.

If these policies continue, there will undoubtedly be a greater level of economic stagnation and falling global importance of the United States. Free Trade has been proven to help economic growth in all income brackets for developed and undeveloped nations alike, however, it is not without it's fault. Developing a more sustainable policy for growth should be the administrations priority, rather than encouraging an ungrounded and harmful policy approach.

With the growth of protectionist view points comes the much anticipated, and many times refuted, point that trade hurts jobs. One study done by by David Tarr and Steven Matusz, "Adjusting to Trade Policy Reform", the benefits of trade outweigh the costs by a factor of ten. Furthermore, the study concludes that the usual rate of job turnover is far greater than jobs lost to trade liberalization. In fact, only about 5 percent of job turnover can be attributed to increased imports with Mexico. Even looking across the seas, calculations by Robert Z. Lawrence, looking just at US trade with China over the last decade, for every net manufacturing job lost to trade with China, the US economy gained approximately $900,000 in 2008. Furthermore, when discussing jobs lost to trade it is often overlooked that jobs are gained on the export side of the equation, and these jobs pay on average 7 to 15 percent more than import related jobs.

Another criticism levied is that increasing trade hurts United States manufacturers. This argument is often given a very human face by telling the stories of communities that have fallen apart since jobs moved overseas or south of the border. These people make up a large part of Trumps base, which is why he has come down so hard on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). However, the statistics don't really support this argument. A study done in 2013 found that increased imports from China has lowered US manufacturing wages by about 3% since 1992, but increased imports from Mexico has little to no effect on wages. This is because the trade balance with China is so one-sided and this is hurting american workers more than anything, but that is the fault of bad policy, not trade.

In a more general sense, trade helps the economy grow all around. One study done by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that over a period of ten years that free trade usually leads to average export growth of 80 percent. This number is even higher when looking at developing nations. Another study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed research from countries that chose not to liberalize trade and countries that did found that countries that liberalized grew faster. The isolated effect of the lower barriers to trade was approximately 1% growth in GDP annually.

However the benefits of trade just don't stop at economics. Trade agreements, and trade in general, promotes a higher degree of economic integration and political integration. Economic integration gives us lower cost goods, increases productivity, increase purchasing power, gives us a greater selection of goods and increases foreign investments. To producers they gain the advantage of larger supply chains, possibly beyond borders, and have the ability to expand into economies of scale. Political integration brings peace and creates long lasting stability.

If Trump continues along this path, it would only harm American citizens through higher prices, less consumer choice, and reduced purchasing power. But perhaps the most dangerous consequence is one of a global scale. As China grows and grows they are continually expanding their sphere of influence. Spreading throughout Africa and Latin America, they are investing largely in these countries. This is dangerous from a United States perspective because it gives them more power, and considering tense relations following an escalating trade war, it only makes us less powerful. They are one of our largest trade partners, next to Mexico and Canada, and putting restrictions on them only hurts us because they are one of the most dynamic export markets in the world. If China gains geopolitical power, as we lose it, we face the spreading of Chinese authoritarianism and the suppression of human rights and freedoms. This is incredibly dangerous and should be prevented, but our President is currently accelerating the process.

If the United States is to continue to be a world power, we must continue to embrace free trade. We should step towards greater economic integration and political integration by lowering tariffs and barriers to trade, rather than step away. It'll be beneficial to the consumer, it'll help employment, and spur innovation throughout the market, all while maintaining promoting greater global stability. FTAs have their faults, granted, but we should instead focus our efforts to bettering these agreements rather than detesting them so we can promote sustainable growth at home and abroad.