[hliyan]

Is this a consciously executed strategy on the part of the US, or just an emergent outcome of the economic and policy climate? I used to think the US was able to orchestrate such multi-decade strategies, but observing the country during the last few years, I've become skeptical.

[lumost]

Arguably the U.S. operates on persistent "consensus" e.g. containment, free-trade, isolationism etc. These aren't so much orchestrated strategies as they are operating principals.

The business consensus for the last 3 decades was to outsource the supply chain to the cheapest bidder. That the cheapest bidder had no environmental regulations was an ignored outcome. That the cheapest bidders were all closely related and existed within a new competing network of suppliers was likewise ignored.

I suspect the lack of direction that's been apparent for the last ~8 years is partially due to a general view that one or more of free-trade, free-enterprise, environmental protection, or national security/international posture needs to change.

[banannaise]

The United States is really only a political mess where capital holders and workers have opposing interests. Exploitation of other countries benefits both, at least from a myopic view, so the US can prepare and implement long-term plans to do so despite the frequent changes in regime.

[Ericson2314]

Perhaps more emergent-ish, but people have been commenting on this for ages, and the process continued. So post-hoc planned too.