The claim "globalization has failed" is a recent political talking point explicitly made by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who called it "a failed policy" at the World Economic Forum in January 202612
However, macroeconomic evidence strongly contradicts this broad assertion: U.S. real GDP per capita rose substantially from 1990 to 2024 during the advance of globalization, and America retained its share of world output and its industrial base in value terms3
The World Bank has identified that the number of people living on less than $1 per day decreased by an estimated 200 million since the 1980s, demonstrating significant global poverty reduction linked to increased trade4
Economic research shows most Americans have done better over recent decades, with no evidence supporting a narrative of national economic decline or that the middle class was hollowed out by global commerce5
Despite rhetoric suggesting America has stopped offshoring, approximately 300,000 U.S. jobs are still outsourced annually and 66% of U.S. businesses continue to outsource at least one department, indicating that globalized economic integration remains deeply embedded6
While specific communities and workers faced legitimate negative impacts from trade competition and automation, these distributional challenges do not constitute evidence that globalization itself has failed as a broad economic phenomenon35