Governing Trade Conflict

As President Trump imposed high tariffs on China, his economic nationalism was framed as a break from the postwar liberal trade order. By examining U.S.–Japan trade relations under Carter, the article shows that the tension between free-market ideals and state intervention preceded the Trump administration. Drawing on archival materials from the Carter Presidency, the study analyzes how U.S. officials in the 1970s sought to manage trade imbalances and declining competitiveness while publicly disavowing protectionism. Situating this discourse in relation to the more overt trade confrontations of the Reagan era and Trump's unapologetic protectionism, the article argues that what distinguishes Trump is not state intervention but the erosion of the rhetorical and institutional balancing strategies that once contained it.