Kamala’s Marshall-Plan Trap

When good intentions meet American exceptionalism, is primacy the only possible strategy?

Brian Deese has a maddening essay out in Foreign Affairs that is nevertheless clarifying.

Deese was a leading figure in the construction of “Bidenomics”—the name for a stew of policies that, depending on the day of the week, aimed at:

economic growth, the “middle class,” a green energy transition, reclaiming a higher share of global manufacturing, a small yard/high fence meant to constrain China’s military power, US dominance in future-oriented economic industries, reducing vulnerability to Chinese economic coercion, or preparation for war over Taiwan.

The essay makes the case for what it calls a “clean energy Marshall Plan” with the goal of “outcompeting China” while accelerating a desperately needed green transition in the global South.

This is about as progressive as Washington gets, so I want to be careful criticizing it…which is precisely what I’m going to do here.