alt Hacker NewsEh, the empire aka, protection of free trade as a service is still alive and well with no viable alternative on the horizon. Every other empire is either not free trade or - just plain mercantilism and thus will exploit way more then the quite "idealist" us- trump is just a taste of what the others in power would feel like.
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Without AI the Chinese have won already.
If you haven't noticed it's because you've stayed too close to the homeland.
That machinery and attached industries would keep on paddling for a while.
I don't think the country that singlehandedly messed up the global economy by launching a pointless war on Iran - without even coordinating with its allies! - that predictably got the Strait of Hormuz closed gets to call itself protector of free trade anymore.
The US has lost its appeal as a hegemon. Constantly threatening allies with invasion isn't helping either.
Isn't the US like very clearly anti free trade at this point?
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I think the Hormuz saga and how China just quietly stopped importing oil are signs that we are nearing the end of the "free trade as a service" from the US. There are so many aspects of that I do not understand yet: how much oil trade will be done in yuan in the future is one that leads to other question about the current wars and what will happen when those end.