The United States has much to lose from a higher level of overall uncertainty

The policies conducted in the United States (protectionism, geopolitical tensions with many countries, shift from multilateralism to bilateralism) help create a high level of uncertainty. Yet , a high level of uncertainty is negative for the US economy: It can make it more difficult to finance the fiscal deficit and the external deficit; it can reduce demand for US external debt; It can discourage US companies from increas ing their debt leverage, which would lead to a decline in purchases of equities and in share prices; It can discourage US households from running up debt to consume, which would dampen consumption. Generally speaking, a country that has a low savings rate and whose growth depends on borrowing should prefer a low level of uncertainty, since high uncertainty discourages both lenders and borrowers.