Thursday 12th February 2026 | Marie’s Column | The Scotsman
Donald Trump’s economic nationalism draws extensively on notions that Alexander Hamilton espoused at the dawn of the American republic.
As a native of Ayrshire, I am constantly reminded of the rich contribution the region has made not just to Scottish life and culture, but also to places far beyond these shores. However, it is only recently that I have come to wonder whether the place I call home can claim a direct link to the tumultuous course of global events today under the current US administration.
When it comes to the geopolitical machinations of Donald Trump, from tariff wars to the reimagining of the Monroe Doctrine for 21st century purposes, with all the questions which that poses in terms of global security and US territorial ambitions from Venezuela to Greenland, decoding the Trump worldview has become an all-consuming pastime for many.
For some, it amounts to an exercise in detecting what they like to describe as method in the madness, whilst others conclude that there is no pattern, strategy or historical precedent which can explain how or why Trump is steering the US in its current direction of travel.
And so, where does Scotland and my corner of Ayrshire fit into this? Well, the Grange area of my hometown, Kilmarnock, and Kerelaw Castle in Stevenston, which is now a ruin, was once home to the lairds of its estate, the Hamilton family, one of whose line, Alexander Hamilton, would become a Founding Father of the United States.
Hamilton, the revered soldier statesman, man of letters and in much more recent times the subject of the Broadway musical which bears his name, is renowned for his role in shaping the young republic in the formative years of the United States and famously died as a result of a duel with his nemesis Aaron Burr in 1804, being laid to rest in at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, “Where Money Never Sleeps”.
What is perhaps less well known is the esteem in which he is held by the current occupant of the White House. Whilst Trump has openly expressed his disdain for Hamilton the play, he has spoken in admiring tones of the man, declaring that Hamilton “understood that the government must protect the jobs of our citizens and the wealth of our nation.”
And so, for those many people looking for clues for what Trump might do next, they could do worse than to examine the career and writings of the Founding Father with Ayrshire roots.
Hamilton, noted for his impulsive, fiery personality, was an advocate of strong and decisive presidential rule. “Energy in the Executive,” he wrote, “is a leading character in the definition of good government,” railing against the perceived dangers of a “feeble executive”. Trump, whatever one’s views on his policies at home and abroad, has clearly embraced the Hamiltonian notion of an all-powerful executive.
When it comes to economic policy, as the very first US Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington, Hamilton is sometimes afforded the title of father of American capitalism. And in his contributions to the Federalist Papers, he set out his theories on the importance, as he saw it, of the United States achieving full economic independence from the Old World.
His Report on the Subject of Manufactures, submitted to Congress in 1791, was a foundational document that outlined Hamilton’s economic nationalism and laid the basis for much of US economic and trading policy for generations after it was written. It was also a paper which advocated tariffs and other protectionist measures.
The debate about whether policies designed at the dawn of the 19th century remain viable in the 21st is an open question, but the lesson is clear: Trump is familiar with the Hamilton worldview and has sought to repackage it today for his own purposes.
Trump’s economic nationalism draws extensively on the notions that Hamilton and others like him espoused at the dawn of the American republic.
Hamilton’s economic views were based around ensuring that manufacturing and domestic industrial capacity was sufficient to ensure the US was entirely independent of other nations when it came to the supply of military and other essential goods. Trump, in his first term and now once more, has sought to apply that same principle.
Hamilton warned against any need for America to be dependent on European nations for vital materials. If today you were to substitute the word China for Europe, you start to get a feel for how closely Trump’s policies draw on the Hamilton precedent.
The echoes are everywhere. Hamilton was a powerful advocate of building the US’s maritime capacity, promoting domestic shipbuilding to provide vessels for the nascent US Navy. Similarly, one of Trump’s executive orders has been aimed at prioritising shipbuilding and, in his own words, restoring America’s maritime dominance.
When it came to foreign policy, it could be argued that Hamilton’s approach was neither wholly interventionist not isolationist. But he believed that, in specific circumstances, America should seek to intervene in cases where those in foreign lands were seeking to thwart despotism. American Presidents down the ages have embraced that creed to varying degrees, with equally varying degrees of justification. Trump’s iteration is merely the latest version of it.
When Trump first arrived in the White House nine years ago, he ensured a portrait of Hamilton was hung prominently in the Oval Office. It hangs there again now, underlining the esteem in which the Founding Father is held by the 45th and 47th President. Whether that admiration would have been reciprocated is another matter. But for those looking for some explanation as to what is driving US trade, economic and foreign policy today, perhaps Ayrshire and Hamilton hold the key.
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