not, the one who confesses is set free and the other receives a heavy sentence. If both prisoners do not confess, the sentence is at its heaviest. This situation parallels therisky business of global marketing. The respective nations act as the prisoners, alwayshaving to guess the actions of the other nations. Risks are always involved, but byweighing the costs and benefits of the actions, a dominant or maximum strategy can bemade. The dominant strategy is the strategy that yields the best results regardless of theopponent’s strategy. The maximum strategy is the maximization of the minimum results.The propensity for the United States to lean towards free trade lies in the belief ofa declining American hegemony. A hegemony is a dominant state that uses its economicpower to impose and maintain customs and rules aimed at preserving the existing worldorder. Even though the US has declined from its superstar economic status, it still boats aGDP of $6.26 trillion dollars, which is larger than the GDPs of Japan and Germanycombined, $6.12 trillion. The theory of hegemonic stability suggests that a dominant stateis necessary to enforce international cooperation and maintain international law. Thistheory will be proved or disproved in the upcoming years since global politics is moving toeven the scales of countries with such tools as free trade.The US economy is now at a trade deficit, and has been in that state for quiteawhile. The best strategy to alleviate this problem would be protectionist measures. Although there will be those who oppose these measure, in the long run protectionism willbe more beneficial to the economy of all American industries. Political liberty, the basicfreedoms essential to the formation and expression of the popular will and its translationinto policy, is not infringed by protectionist measures. The American population hashistorically disagreed on how much government involvement is enough. But alas...
