Contesting international economic governance: the ‘people’ and trade in the Trump and Brexit rhetoric

Chryssogelos, Angelos (2023) Contesting international economic governance: the ‘people’ and trade in the Trump and Brexit rhetoric. In: Contestation and polarization in global governance: European responses. Leuven Global Governance series . Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, pp. 109-124. ISBN 9781800887251

Abstract

The chapter examines comparatively two populist trade discourses during a period of upheaval in Anglo-Saxon democracies starting in 2016: the election and presidency of Donald Trump in the US and the contestation of Brexit following the EU referendum in Great Britain. Both have been described as populist, yet they represent opposite positions on trade. Contrary to the protectionist Trump, Brexiteers largely support free trade. The analysis demonstrates how the distinctiveness of populism is its articulation of preferences as binary opposition between people and official power. If populism is understood in this way as a discourse of international relations, the actual trade policy preferences of populists – whether they support or oppose free trade – are less important than how they are articulated as opposition to the elites and institutions of the international order.

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