ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the United States consists of a case where both manifestations of identity capital are found. The legislative power overrepresents the White population, yet Non-Whites as a single group have been acquiring a stronger voice in politics since the onset of the 21st century. Consequently, Non-Whites tend to contest the idea that the United States is a melting pot, as official narratives have defended it since the 1960s. Non-Whites are more present in liberalizing sectors than Whites. Yet, due to overrepresentation of White-dominant districts in the House of Representatives, protectionist stances prevailed at the negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The results of linear and nonlinear regression analysis thus suggest that the trends that led Trump to win in 2016 were already going underneath the American institutional and partisan setting in the 2000s. I argue that, as in the cases of Brazil and India, the effects of national identity upon economic sectors’ political strength and therefore the conversion of identity capital into political power through the legislative lie at the core of the United States turn toward protectionism in the DDA negotiations. Given that in the United States, the dominant narrative of national identity still reflects the logic of multiculturalism, the political empowerment of Non-Whites as a single, unified group representing a post-racial America remains limited. Thus, economic sectors with a high proportion of Whites tend to have more identity capital vis-à-vis others. Between 2003 and 2008—when the major DDA deadlock happened—the United States lost the prominent position it had in the multilateral trading system since its foundation after World War II. Such a position assured that American negotiators could satisfy liberalizing interests while meeting the demands of protectionist segments, particularly in agriculture. Once this equilibrium was no longer possible, identity capital is one of the factors that drove U.S. national interest toward protectionism through a structural process.
