COLLECTION • DECEMBER 9, 2025
On Balance
Ideology Over Interest
How American trade policy was captured by free trade dogma
The Dollar Dilemma
Balanced trade is impossible without a fairly-valued dollar—and a better approach to international monetary policy
Shifting Out of Neutral
Why American fiscal stability, economic security and resilience, and widespread prosperity require a trade posture premised on balanced outcomes, not “neutral” rules
A Results-Based Order
The United States must lead a new bloc of market-oriented nations committed to balanced trade
Appendix
A guide to trade barriers and market distortions
Overview
America’s free trade paradigm has delivered massive, persistent trade and capital imbalances. These imbalances have eroded America’s fiscal stability, weakened its economic security and resilience, and reduced prosperity for millions of its citizens. A better approach will require replacing indiscriminate openness to trade and capital flows with a new guiding principle: balance.
A new trade approach built on balance will require grappling with how our dogmatic acceptance of imbalanced trade developed in the first place; how to properly value the dollar and achieve balanced capital flows; how imbalanced trade undercuts America’s economic priorities; and how the United States can replace this failed system by leading a new bloc of friendly nations committed to balanced trade. This collection offers guidance and perspective on all four of those questions.
