Will Isolationism Work in the 21st Century?

President Trump with his cabinet at the White House before the UN vote. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Trump Threatens to Take His Ball and Go Home, but Can He?

The answer is yes, if he calls it unilateralism and not isolationism. The global economy does not want trade tariffs.

"In a collective act of defiance toward Washington, the United Nations General Assembly voted 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions and 21 absent, for a resolution demanding that the United States rescind its Dec. 6 declaration on Jerusalem, the contested holy city.

“We will remember it when we are called upon once again to make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations,” [Nikki Haley] said of the vote. “And we will remember when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”


Voting no were Israel, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Togo, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau — mostly tiny countries heavily dependent on American aid.

35 abstaining were Antigua-Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad-Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, and Vanuatu.
— "UN Jerusalem resolution: How each country voted", Al Jazeera, December 21, 2017

“In this case what you had was the Trump administration basically changing the rules of the game that the international community had accepted,” [Stewart M. Patrick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations] said. “More than that, I think it symbolizes the self-defeating notion that for the United States, ‘it’s my way or the highway.’"
— "Defying Trump, U.N. General Assembly Condemns U.S. Decree on Jerusalem", Rick Gladstone and Mark Landler, The New York Times, December 21, 2017

Scholars have disputed whether United States history should be described as isolationist, unilateralist, or non-interventionist. Since they use the same examples for each, I have lumped all under the term unilateralism.

A Broad Classification of International Relations
	Unilateralism	Multilateralism
Description	Acting independently without foreign alliances	Acting cooperatively with foreign alliances
Examples	• Switzerland • U.S. after the Revolutionary War • France during the French Revolution and Napoleon • U.S. between World War I and World War II • U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II • U.S. in the Iraq War	• U.S. and France during the Revolutionary War • Britain, Prussia, Russia and other European countries during the Napoleonic Wars • World War II Allied Nations • U.S. occupation of Germany after World War II • NATO countries • European Union
Actions	• George Washington's avoidance of "permanent alliances" • Jefferson's "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none" • Monroe Doctrine • Spanish-American War and the annexation of the Philippines • Failure to ratify the League of Nations treaty • Neutrality between World Wars • Japanese social and economic reforms during U.S. occupation • Support for UN Security Council veto • Iraq War without NATO or UN authority	• French supplies, funds, and military support against the British during the Revolutionary War • Defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo by a coalition of Britain, Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Sardinia • Divided Allied occupation of Germany after World War II • Support for creating the United Nations • Korean War under UN authority • Nato military and relief actions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and Turkey • Free movement of goods, services, labor and capital in the Eurozone • Euro currency
Criticism	• Nation can be seen as an aggressor or rogue • Does not share resources and costs of actions • Does not strengthen bonds between nations and reduce risk • Ignores interdependence in global politics and trade	• Divides responsibility and authority • Other countries have a "veto power" over U.S. national security • Slower response to changing conditions

Historically the United States has acted both unilaterally and multilaterally, at times simultaneously (see the post-WWII occupation of Germany and Japan). America's actions have changed with time, leaders, and public mood. Perhaps that's a characteristic of unilateralism as well. But multilateralism has predominated since World War II.

The early United States wanted separation from the problems of Europe and felt a sense of geographic isolation. America maintained diplomatic relations and economic contacts abroad, but restricted them as narrowly as possible to retain its independence. Thomas Jefferson said that America should have "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." This policy was maintained for most of the 19th century, but then slowly began to change.

The first significant foreign intervention by the US was the Spanish–American War. In 1903 Theodore Roosevelt encouraged the Panamanian Revolt against Colombia to build the Panama Canal, but then Woodrow Wilson won reelection in 1916 with the slogan "He kept us out of war." The presence of immigrants in America with divided loyalties helped maintain neutrality at the beginning of World War I.

Unrestricted submarine warfare finally pushed Wilson to ask for a declaration of war on Germany in 1917. After the War Wilson traveled to Europe and stayed for months working on the Treaty of Versailles, but the Treaty and its League of Nations were rejected by the U.S. Senate. By 1928, though, fifteen nations signed the Kellogg–Briand Pact of American Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand, basically a pledge against war.

The Crash of 1929 and Great Depression refocused America inward on its economy. The U.S. ignored the invasions of Ethiopia by Italy and Manchuria by Japan, and was neutral for the Spanish Civil War. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry into World War II, isolationists such as Charles Lindbergh's America First Committee announced their support of the war. Multilateralism continued after the War with the United Nations and NATO.

International trade was encouraged by the U.S. despite early political isolation, and the Navy was founded in 1794 to deal with the Barbary pirates, delivering tribute and fighting two wars unilaterally. Jefferson experimented with economic warfare with an embargo that prevented trade by U.S. ships only with Britain and France, in response to violations of American neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars. The embargo did not prevent trade by foreign ships with the U.S., however, and it mostly hurt the American economy.

A tariff, or tax on imports into the U.S., was first established in 1789. The intent was to fund the Federal government and protect domestic industries, and tariffs were the main source of Federal revenue from 1789 to 1914. In general Democrats favored a tariff that would pay only the cost of government, while Whigs and later Republicans favored higher tariffs to provide more protection for American industries and workers. Since the early 20th century, however, U.S. tariffs have been very low.

Multilateralism characterized tariff reduction negotiations between 1948 and 1994, and the U.S. supported tariff reduction in first the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations and later the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the collapse of Communism in the 1990s free markets and low tariffs became dominant worldwide.

Sources are Wikipedia, unless noted otherwise.