International trade policy on America’s 250th birthday

A nation requires a shared narrative. It binds its citizens together by giving them a common understanding of their past and a sense of collective identity. For some countries, national identity is rooted in bloodlines; for most, it is found in shared history. In the case of the United States, national identity rests above all on founding ideals. The American experiment began with the vision of the Founding Fathers, embodied in two seminal documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The national narrative continued over the ensuing centuries through deeds remembered with…