William Dudley, Head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Torpedoed Trump’s Agenda In Mumbai, India

William Dudley, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, blasted President Donald Trump‘s foreign trade policies at the Bombay Stock Exchange this Thursday.

He said that Trump’s protectionist outlook was a “dead end” that would ultimately hurt the US economy in the long run.

Dudley described protectionism as having a

siren-like appeal…viewed narrowly, it may be potentially rewarding to particular segments of the economy in the short term… [but] viewed more broadly, it would almost certainly be destructive to the economy overall in the long term.

It’s rare that top civil servants speak out openly about a sitting president’s agenda—it’s not their job to vociferously denounce the president’s policies in front of foreign dignitaries and investors.—in a foreign land, no less.

It’s not their job to hold the president accountable—that’s what courts, congress, and voters are for.

No. It’s their job to recommend, and implement government policy. That’s it.

Dudley is part of the bureaucracy, whether he likes it or not.

And yes, I realize the Fed is an allegedly independent organization, but the difference is a semantic one. In practical terms, the Fed is part of the government—or at least it should be.

Either way, his actions are embarrassing to the administration, and to America as a whole—there is room for dissent at home, but it’s imperative that we, or any country for that matter, present a unified face abroad.

This weakens us geopolitically, and undermines the president’s authority, it burns his political capital—when you talk out of two mouths, which should be believed?

Dudley overstepped his mandate.

Dudley muddied the waters.

Dudley needs to go.

Is Dudley Right? Are Trump’s Trade Policies a Dead End?

William Dudley claims that “trying to achieve a high standard of living by following a policy of economic isolationism will fail”.

Of course, Dudley’s wrong.

I don’t care much for economic theories. I care about facts. I care about history.

It doesn’t matter if it looks good on paper, or if the logic is clean—if it works, it works; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Period.

The fact is that economic nationalism, of the type Trump’s advocating for, works. It’s how America got rich in the first place.

And conversely, the only time a major nation adopted unfettered free trade, it caused its decline. In fact, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that free trade killed Victorian Britain.

Let’s take it back to an American context: Dudley’s presumption is that freer trade, and economic globalization, has made Americans more prosperous. Right?

Right.

If that’s true, there should be some empirical evidence for it. Right?

Right.

But there’s not.

In fact, all objective evidence shows that since the 1970s, when America’s tariff walls were dismantled, and America began to embrace economic globalism, the economy faltered.

You’ve been duped.

Economic globalism doesn’t work—it’s as simple as that.