Introduction
The post-World War II liberal economic order has been built on principles of openness: reducing trade barriers, promoting cross-border investment, making international travel and communication seamless, and encouraging the global flow of goods, services, and capital. This framework has generated extraordinary global prosperity, lifting billions of people out of poverty and creating unprecedented wealth, particularly for the managerial and professional classes who operate most effectively within an interconnected world.
Yet, this order has not been without its tradeoffs. Capital mobility and the relocation of production to lower-cost countries have devastated many American communities, displacing tens of millions of workers and hollowing out local economies. The resulting sense of economic abandonment has fueled the rise of populism on both the left and the right. Unless addressed, this political backlash risks dismantling the very openness that underpins the liberal order.
The path forward is not to retreat into protectionism or punitive taxation. Instead, the United States must secure the future of the liberal economic order by making itself the single most attractive and profitable place in the world to do business. By ensuring that global firms choose to invest, operate, and employ workers in America, the U.S. can simultaneously preserve the benefits of globalization while restoring opportunity to its citizens.
The Costs of Populist Alternatives
Populist movements across the political spectrum have offered divergent but ultimately self-defeating solutions. On the right, protectionist tariffs and trade barriers attempt to force firms to stay or return to the United States, but at the cost of undermining open trade. On the left, proposals to heavily tax corporations in order to fund expansive welfare programs may provide temporary relief, but they risk driving more firms offshore, eroding the tax base, and ultimately requiring barriers to keep businesses from leaving.
Both approaches converge on economic nationalism, which directly contradicts the liberal post-war vision. Neither path sustains openness while simultaneously addressing the needs of displaced workers.
A Positive Vision: The United States as the World’s Best Place to Do Business
The alternative is to embrace openness while making the United States the most business-friendly environment on earth. This approach recognizes that capital is mobile and competitive advantage will flow to the jurisdictions that best balance efficiency, stability, and profitability. To achieve this, the U.S. must adopt a comprehensive strategy that includes the following pillars:
1. A Globally Competitive Tax Environment
The U.S. should lead the world in offering a tax structure that attracts and retains global capital. Corporate tax rates should be set at levels that make relocation to the United States more appealing than offshoring, with stable and transparent policies that allow firms to plan long-term investments with confidence. A modest national sales tax on non-essential goods can broaden the tax base, while maintaining a system that rewards entrepreneurship and corporate growth.
2. World-Class Infrastructure for Commerce
A dynamic global hub requires unmatched infrastructure. America must invest in cost-effective systems for moving raw materials in and finished products out: modern highways, expanded rail networks, efficient ports, advanced airports, revitalized intracoastal waterways, and bold innovations such as the hyperloop. Infrastructure excellence reduces logistical costs, increases speed to market, and makes the U.S. the natural center of global supply chains.
3. Flexible, Low-Cost Labor Markets
Businesses thrive when hiring and employment are frictionless. The U.S. should streamline labor regulations to make it easy for companies to hire and, when necessary, to restructure their workforce. Administrative burdens must be reduced, particularly the costs associated with employer-provided healthcare.
This can be achieved by reforming healthcare into a government-regulated national exchange system, where private insurers compete alongside public options. By shifting health coverage away from employer responsibility, businesses gain lower costs and workers gain portability, freeing both sides from unnecessary complexity.
4. Lifelong Learning and Worker Retraining
Globalization and technological innovation will inevitably displace some workers. The solution is not to resist change, but to empower workers to adapt. A system of lifelong learning must be institutionalized, allowing individuals to continuously acquire new skills throughout their careers. Retraining programs should be rapidly deployable for workers affected by outsourcing or automation, ensuring that no community is left permanently behind.
This requires a fundamental rethinking of education—not as a one-time preparation for adulthood, but as a recurring investment in human capital across the life cycle. With such programs in place, workers can transition smoothly into emerging industries and opportunities.
5. National Labor Mobility
The U.S. must also make it easier for workers to move across state lines in pursuit of new opportunities. Streamlined credential recognition, lower relocation costs, and portable benefits would ensure that labor can flow as freely within America as capital flows globally. By maximizing worker mobility, the U.S. can prevent regional stagnation and keep its workforce aligned with evolving patterns of investment.
Preserving the Open Economic Order
The liberal economic order has delivered unparalleled prosperity, but it can only endure if its political foundations remain secure. Economic dislocation, if unaddressed, feeds the populist pressures that threaten openness itself. By becoming the most business-friendly nation in the world, the United States can simultaneously protect the liberal order and reinvigorate its domestic economy.
This vision does not rely on barriers, punishment, or redistribution. Instead, it builds on America’s historic strengths—innovation, efficiency, and dynamism—to create an environment where businesses prosper and workers have continuous pathways to opportunity.
Conclusion
The choice before the United States is clear. Retreat into populist nationalism and protectionism will unravel the very order that has underpinned global prosperity for nearly eighty years. Alternatively, by making the United States the most competitive and business-friendly nation in the world, we can preserve openness, attract capital, and create renewed opportunities for American workers.
To save the post-war liberal order, America must embrace—not resist—the logic of globalization. But it must do so by ensuring that the benefits of global integration are rooted firmly at home.
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