What America’s protectionist turn means for the world

Step for a moment into the ancient past. The year is 2016. Michael Froman, the United States Trade Representative, is making a stirring call to arms. American workers and businesses are competing against firms that get subsidies and other favours from their governments. “The question”, he says, “is what do we do about it? Do we accept this status quo, or do we actively work to change it?” Mr Froman’s choice, in line with decades of his country’s trade policies, is the latter: try to tear down the subsidies hurting American exporters and gumming up global trade.Now, return to the present—with a thud. America’s answer to Mr Froman’s question has been flipped. Rather than trying to get other countries to cut subsidies, the Biden administration’s unabashed focus is on building a subsidy architecture of its own, complete with the kinds of local-content rules that American officials once railed against. Thanks to landmark legislation on semiconductors and greenery passed last year, the government is poised to shower $465bn on chips and climate technology. Officials have started getting into the nitty-gritty of how to distribute the money; some of the new rules went into effect on January 1st.