Superpower politics: The triumph of free trade in postwar America

Since World War II, American presidents have consistently advanced a world free-trade agenda, despite the fierce opposition of domestic interests threatened by free trade, and despite these interests' ability to mobilize local pressure and nationalist sentiment against free trade in Congress. A theoretical resolution of these paradoxes would consider both the countervailing pressure of domestic interests that benefit from free trade and an international factor: namely, America's dominance of world trade. This global dominance gives the United States "superpower" status not only economically, but politically, enabling American presidents to get most of what they want in international trade negotiations. Consequently, they can afford to make tactical concessions to American mercantilist interests-defanging congressional opposition to free trade-because in international negotiations, these concessions can be turned into powerful levers against the barriers to free trade that are erected by countries desiring access to the immense American market.