Reference News Network September 9 report: Japan's Asahi Shimbun recently published an article titled "The US President a Century Ago Also Proposed 'America First' - History Proves It Has Failed", authored by the newspaper's editorial board member Jun Ozadera and Takashi Kitano. The full text is as follows:

On a striking presidential campaign poster, a male candidate holds the American flag with bold text reading "America First".

The subject of the poster is not the current US President Donald Trump, but Warren G. Harding, a Republican presidential candidate about 100 years ago. Harding won the 1920 US presidential election with the largest margin of victory in history, and his slogan was also "America First".

"We cannot open our markets to the world while maintaining our current standard of living and equal opportunities, and sustain our industrial advantages in an unequal competition," this statement comes from Harding's inaugural address in March 1921. He also said, "The idea that eliminating trade barriers will solve everything is an attractive illusion. To maintain American standards, we must impose tariffs on imported goods according to our high production costs." This rejected the internationalism upheld by his predecessor, Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

Trump's views are remarkably similar to Harding's.

Harding also advocated "avoiding entanglements in the troubles of the old world (Europe)." He clearly adhered to the "America First" stance, refraining from interfering in European affairs, which had long been central to international affairs.

At the beginning of Harding's presidency, World War I had just taken the lives of millions, and the world was still in ruins. In 1919, then-US President Wilson visited the Palace of Versailles in Paris to discuss post-war solutions and promoted the establishment of the League of Nations, allowing the United States to lead the world.

However, Harding was deeply dissatisfied with the policies of the previous administration, pointing out that the US participation in World War I caused great loss of life and material. His campaign slogan was "Return to Normalcy." In his inaugural address, he stated, "A global supranational government is contrary to everything we cherish. The United States cannot tolerate it." In fact, he and the Republican Congress opposed the League of Nations, and during his term, the United States refused to join the League, adopting policies that went against multilateral coordination.

From that time on, the United States entered an era where inward-looking tendencies dominated.

Certainly, the subsequent Great Depression and World War II were not entirely caused by the United States. However, under the leadership of three subsequent Republican administrations, the policies they implemented, such as tax cuts and investment promotion, led to an overheated economy. Even after the economy rapidly slowed down, the Republican administrations continued to maintain protectionism based on high tariffs. Other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs, causing global trade to halve. The intensification of economic blocs further increased the level of panic.

At that time, the United States had already become a superpower surpassing Britain and France, yet it adopted a non-interventionist policy on security issues. Europe, preoccupied with its own problems, was powerless to stop Nazi Germany's肆意妄为.

Thus, humanity once again made the mistake of World War II.

It has been more than 100 years since the Harding era.

In his inaugural address in January this year, Trump declared, "My administration will clearly put America first." He also criticized the previous administration for getting involved in a series of disastrous events abroad, calling for a "common sense revolution" and promising to "impose tariffs on foreign countries to benefit the American people."

Professor Charles Kupchan of Georgetown University said, "Trump's 'America First' ideology means the United States will clearly bid farewell to the internationalism it has upheld since World War II."

He also pointed out, "Trump's foreign policy is not a sudden inspiration. For the United States, the deep intervention in external affairs after the end of World War II is the exception."

To understand the trajectory of Trump's grand strategy, we need to look back at American history.

American tradition has always been to avoid entanglements with foreign countries. This history can be traced back to the struggle for independence from Britain around 250 years ago. In 1778, the 13 British colonies on the East Coast formed an alliance with France. Although the colonial militia led by George Washington was at a disadvantage, when King Louis XVI of France decided to join the war, more and more European countries chose to support the colonies, and finally formally recognized American independence in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

However, this was merely a temporary alliance based on common interests.

In 1793, the United States' ally France sought help from the United States to deal with the first anti-French coalition led by Britain. But the United States did not respond, choosing to remain neutral. Given that Britain had already formed alliances with Spain, Austria, etc., the United States did not want to get involved in European conflicts.

Since then, this newly independent country has tried to avoid getting involved in disputes with foreign countries, except for the war caused by British blockading maritime traffic lines.

This foreign philosophy is clearly reflected in the farewell speech of the first president Washington in 1796: "Our diplomatic principle is to minimize political ties as much as possible, while expanding commercial relations, and avoid establishing permanent alliances with any country."

It was not until a century and a half later that the United States established formal alliances with foreign countries. (Translated by Liu Lin)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7548053009041785385/

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