Haass: ‘China Is the Strategic Beneficiary of This Latest Bout of American Isolationism and Protectionism’

EXCERPT:

HAASS: "The President of the United States goes to Asia, takes the United States out of the principle dynamic in that part of the world, which is a global regional trading agreement. 40 percent of the world’s economy should be there. We’ve taken ourselves out. Who is benefiting? China. China is the strategic beneficiary of this latest bout of American isolationism and protectionism. That’s what historians are going to write. I understand why everyone is so focused on how inappropriate all this was about Russia, American politics and also about Kim Jong-un. It won’t help to deal with North Korea, but the real story will be the United States that is abdicating its position of regional and global leadership. We will pay an economic price and strategic price on that literally for decades to come."