Özet:

This article focuses on the trade policy of the United States (US) from the end of the 19th century until today. It aims to account for the ebb and flow in the trade policy of the US over time and test the explanatory power of the Hegemonic Stability Theory (HST) to explain this change. The study first sheds light on the main premises of the HST on the trade policy of hegemons. After discussing what the theory says for the trade policy of a hegemonic power in different periods of its hegemony, the study focuses on different periods of the US hegemony. A special focus is given to the US trade policy under Trump. A critical examination on the HST is provided by exploring how the different arguments of the theory perform when they meet the reality of changes in US trade policy over time. As a concluding remark, the study argues that although the HST can account for the changes in the US trade policy to some extent, there is the need to go beyond it and to focus on the dynamics of the US domestic politics as well to understand the trade policy of Washington in its fullest sense.

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