3 ms·
> It's essentially the end of "pax Americana". > I think it's incredibly short-sighted. Whatever you think of Trump's policies, the US portion of world GDP
by avar 10y ago
> It's essentially the end of "pax Americana".
> I think it's incredibly short-sighted.
Whatever you think of Trump's policies, the US portion of world GDP has been going down since the 1950s. How long do you think it's tenable for the US to maintain its current commitments? When it's down to 20% of world GDP? 10%, 5%?
The US is still coasting on foreign policy that was essentially made in 1945 after WWII. There's just no way that policy can be maintained indefinitely.
Trump has made comments to the effect that he'd like to lay the foundations of a new type of foreign policy that'll last for decades to come. Whatever you think of his plans I think it's clear that the US can't maintain these foreign entanglements indefinitely, and will need to distribute some of the load to their current allies.
- msabalau 10y agoUS defence spending as share of GDP is in broad terms stable, and lower than the 50s and 60s, so the basis of saying the policy can't be maintained indefinately is unclear. Of course, US spending could have been even lower still if we avoided using false pretences to engage in a pointless war of choice in Iraq, which, of course, had nothing to do with commitments to Europe or Japan.
- avar 10y agoThe basis for citing US share of world GDP is that the US has military commitments against adversaries whose collective share of the world GDP pie is growing, and their militaries along with it.