So obviously, deglobalization is a terrible idea.

It’s a step backward in time.

It represents the devolution of society into tribalism, nationalism, xenophobia, etc.

In short: it’s dumb. As in literally dumb. It’s evidence that we are, as a global community, actually getting stupider in terms of our ability to identify as human beings first and Americans, Russians, French, Chinese, etc. second.

Which helps to explain why the people who support deglobalization seem to be unhinged, stupid, or in some cases both.

Part of the anti-globalist agenda pursued by the Trump administration involves choking off global trade. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s even dumber than deglobalization more generally.

That is, if your anti-globalist, anti-progressive stance stems from a desire to protect against a perceived threat from “outsiders” (e.g. “the terrorists”) and that desire finds expression in the closure of borders and the adoption of an “us versus them” (or at least “us first”) mentality, well then I guess you can kinda, sorta justify it.

But if your anti-globalist agenda stems from some fantasy you harbor about returning the domestic economy to a bygone era when global supply chains weren’t as integrated as they are now and when capital and labor didn’t move freely across borders, then you are quite simply delusional.

Which is the real tragedy of Trump’s trade policies. He’s not going to bring back American manufacturing. It’s not possible to usher in the “renaissance” he’s promised to facilitate. It’s simply not going to happen and he damn well knows it. Which means two things: 1) he’s lying to some members of his support base, and 2) he’s going to end up erecting barriers to global trade growth for no discernible benefit.

Of course that may be a little too 30,000-foot-ish for some readers, so here’s Goldman to explain what the possible knock-on effects are for US equities of slower trade…