We are delighted to publish the 20th in our series of expert comment and analysis by Ana Palacio, Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain (2002-2004); former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group; and visiting lecturer at Georgetown University. This article was originally published by Project Syndicate in April 2020. As always, the views expressed are those of the author and not of GSF unless otherwise stated. The full version of Ms. Palacio’s article is now available to download: Disunited States