Comment on “Protectionism under Trump: the China shock, deplorables, and the first white president”

The USA under Trump has departed from its long-cherished tradition of being a leading proponent of liberal trade policies to a new norm that seeks comfort in protectionism. Noland (2020) provides a deep insight into the political economy that explains the sudden reversal of US trade policies since 2016. In addition to furnishing an excellent literature survey which sheds considerable light on the issues at hand, Noland delves into an econometric analysis of the voter preferences, in which the explanatory variables are economic, demographic and cultural factors, with interaction terms.