Economic nationalism equals colonialism reborn, and colonialism leads to breakup.
The fear of foreigners immigrating to new countries is spreading, and the echoes of Trumpism are spreading to other major nations, especially the United Kingdom and France.
The U.S. president wants to cancel the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as well as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), along with efforts to keep out newcomers and deport more recent immigrants, even those with minor legal offenses such as traffic tickets, as part of his dream to keep the country safe and "make America great again."
Similar efforts are being promoted in the United Kingdom, where political leaders want the country to leave the European Union, and in France, where presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wants "borders that we control," charging that "globalization is a catastrophe" for most people in France.
But when everyone fears foreigners, no one has a safe home.
Breaking up international trade agreements and striving for a form of economic nationalism where the winner takes all and the loser goes hungry is a return of colonial era mercantilism.
There's enough hunger in the world without deliberately making the crisis worse through predatory trade practices.
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