Rhetoric aside, a global downturn would hit the U.S., too.

Economic growth in the rest of the world will slow next year. And that slowing growth will take a bit of wind out the U.S. economy’s sails. So said Maurice Obstfeld, the outgoing chief economist of the IMF, this past weekend. In other words, despite “America first” rhetoric and increasingly nationalistic economic policies, the United States is still a piece of a larger whole. What happens abroad does and will continue to affect us at home.

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