Trump sees the world in terms of a zero-sum game. In reality, globalisation, if well managed, is a positive-sum force: America gains if its friends and allies - whether Australia, the E.U., or Mexico - are stronger. But Trump's approach threatens to turn it into a negative-sum game: America will lose, too.
Interpretation
The quote discusses how viewing international relations as a zero-sum game can harm both America and its allies.
Joseph Stiglitz argues that former President Trump's perspective of international relations as a zero-sum game—where any gain for others is a loss for America—contrasts with the reality of globalization, which can lead to mutual gains if managed correctly. He emphasizes that America's strength is inherently linked to the strength of its allies, and that an adversarial approach could lead to detrimental outcomes for all parties involved.
In practice
During a speech about foreign policy, you could reference this quote to illustrate the importance of alliances.
Free migration within Europe means that countries that have done a better job at reducing unemployment will predictably end up with more than their fair share of refugees. Workers in these countries bear the cost in depressed wages and higher unemployment, while employers benefit from cheaper labor.
I don't think we can have democracies that work where most of the people are not benefiting economically, where most of the people are worried about their job security.
Let me put it very forcefully: No large economy has ever recovered from an economic downturn through austerity. It's not going to happen in the United States, and it's not going to happen in Europe.
What separates developing countries from developed countries is as much a gap in knowledge as a gap in resources.
One of the arguments I make for the failure of the euro is that, at the time it was being constructed, there was a 'neo-liberal' ideology which said that all we need to do to make this thing work is to get deficits low, keep inflation low, and take down barriers, and then everything would be fine.
We have a locale-based education system; we have increasing economic segregation. We clearly need a larger federal program to try to help disadvantaged districts.
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
People see America through particular lenses, either their profession, their race or their gender. So the party that speaks to our racial perceptions and offers solutions to the racial difficulties which we face is the party that's going to be rewarded with our votes.
The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.
Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism.
Many who think they are workers in politics are really merely tools.
Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.
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