Guest commentary: America First cannot mean America Alone
By Jamshid Damooei
President Trump is revitalizing the pledge of America First, the political theory he rallied behind during his first term which generally involves limiting immigration, disregarding global affairs and focusing solely on our domestic policy. This includes policies of non-interventionism, American nationalism and protectionist trade policy.
America First is accompanied by a feeling that the rise of immigration has compromised Americans’ well-being and created economic difficulties. The claims are not often backed by empirical evidence, but the appeal is always significant nonetheless.
The United States is home to more immigrants than any other country. While the U.S. represented about 4% of the total global population in 2024, 17% of all international migrants resided here.
According to the U.S. Census, immigration accounted for the entire growth of the total U.S. population between 2022 and 2023 — the first time this has happened since 1850, when census data collection on nativity began.
While America First is actively being touted now, it’s a concept that both Democrats and Republicans championed in the past.
LEARNING FROM HISTORY
By the middle of the 1880s, the United States surpassed Britain as the world’s leading producer of manufactured goods and steel. Yet despite Americans’ growing wealth, they still steered clear of foreign entanglement.
In his 1916 campaign, Woodrow Wilson pledged to keep America neutral in World War I. A more non-interventionist approach gained prominence in the interwar period (1918–1939); it was also advocated by the America First Committee, a non-interventionist pressure group against U.S. entry into World War II. During that era, “America First,” intentionally or not, included anti-Semitic and fascist rhetoric.
By the end of the Second World War, the U.S. had moved beyond America First to emerge as the world’s most economically and militarily powerful country.
We were the world’s military heavyweight and boasted the most valuable currency — the dollar — to which all other major currencies had become fixed.
U.S. foreign policy was focused on getting Europe’s imperial powers out of the Western Hemisphere. In their worldview, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans served not as barriers to international leadership but as invaluable buffers allowing the U.S. to grow free of foreign interference.
Today, with the world’s largest economy, hundreds of overseas military bases, and leadership positions in various international institutions, the U.S. is still an undeniable global power.
Recently, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reassured a room full of finance industry representatives that the U.S. wants to work with its allies, despite President Trump’s trade war.
What does such an assertion mean? How can it be pursued? How much of a choice or responsibility can any U.S. administrator have?
The country enjoyed unrivaled supremacy two decades after the end of the Cold War, with relative and absolute military and economic capabilities that far outstripped those of any other world power. This position of extraordinary privilege allowed the nation to pursue policies without worrying too much about how it was viewed or affected by other world powers.
REALITY OF GLOBALIZATION
Any realistic assessment of what has been going on for a long time tells us that the U.S. will not leave the global political scene, though it appears to be this administration’s intention. The same is true about U.S. economic ties to the world economy, as the nation accounts for over a quarter of the world’s GDP in U.S. dollars.
In dollar terms, the U.S. and China account for 43% of the world economy. Undoubtedly, any economic problem in the U.S. or China will hurt both sides and devastate other countries, particularly lower-income ones.
Globalization of our economies is not a choice, but a reality.
Changes can happen, and one can argue that they need to, given the constraints imposed by the unsustainability of our living environment. But change can’t happen suddenly or by signing a decree.
America First, or any nation first, cannot be a realistic proposition when what we do impacts all, and what they do impacts us.
The interdependence of all economies and living conditions does not leave any nation out.
If we are worried about immigration and how this may impact the US, currently, there are about 120 million displaced people in the world; know that by 2050, this number is expected to reach 1.2 billion.
The reality of immigration is that it is a shared human experience and has always been part of our humanity. We must understand that no nation can be on its own, and we must come together to find a global solution to global problems.
The United States is leading in what is yet to come, and America First cannot be America Alone.
Jamshid Damooei is a professor and executive director of the Center for Economics of Social Issues at California Lutheran University.
