Countries with powerful and positive reputations, just like corporations with powerful brands, always trade at a premium. They sell more products at higher prices; their citizens find it easier to get good jobs abroad; they attract more tourists and investors and migrant workers. America has such a brand – and Trump risks damaging it.  Research shows that the United States is largely seen as a benign force in the international community – but this is a fact that will almost certainly change if Trump were president. America would find its ability to trade and negotiate effectively around the world severely compromised. Countries with weak or negative images – whether deserved or not – trade at a discount: everything they try to do on the international stage is more difficult and more expensive.  A large problem with Trump is that he doesn’t view America as a world leader, working hard to tackle the common challenges facing the whole of humanity. His is an America hell-bent on pursuing its own interests. And if those interests happen not to coincide with those of the rest of humanity, so much the worse for the rest of humanity.  If Trump became president, he would presumably wish to retreat from many of America’s current commitments to global peace and security, health and wellbeing, prosperity and equality, climate and environment: and the country’s ranking would fall in consequence. Some fear this might be happening already.  We don’t need competitive, selfish countries on the Westphalian model any more, countries that regard the wellbeing of their own citizens and businesses as their only concern. Now and in the future, we urgently need good countries: countries whose governments recognize that we’re all in it together now, whether we like it or not. Governments who recognize that today they aren’t just responsible for their own populations, but to some degree for every man, woman, child and animal on the planet; not just for their own slice of territory but for every square inch of the earth’s surface and the atmosphere above it.  Trump’s world view is the diametric opposite of this: a paranoid, retrograde nationalism which regards the rest of humanity merely as enemies to be neutralized or customers to be marketed to. Such views are corrosive enough when enacted by small, insignificant states: if they become the mandate of the most powerful nation on earth, we are all in deep, deep trouble.  We live in an age of huge global challenges: climate change, poverty, war, terrorism, mass migration, economic turmoil, pandemics, weapons proliferation and drug-trafficking, to name just the most obvious ones. All of these challenges have been made bigger, more powerful, more complex and more persistent as a result of globalization.  No single country is capable of resolving any of these challenges on its own. We need to start prioritizing cooperation and collaboration as much if not more than competition if we’re to offer future generations the prospect of a peaceful, safe, happy, prosperous existence.  Interestingly, data shows that the countries we tend to admire most aren’t necessarily the richest, most modern, most powerful or most attractive countries: we tend to admire the countries we perceive as most admirable. So we don’t much care how happy or lucky or successful other countries are (for the simple reason that we don’t live in them) but we do care how well they behave in the international domain, because that has an impact on us.  Trump’s promise to “make America great again” is one he cannot keep. In today’s world, greatness comes from leading, not from winning.
President Obama says the Republican frontrunner is sullying America’s reputation abroad. And winning back the respect of the world is no small feat