New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- Since United States President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' on 2 April, when he announced sweeping trade tariffs on friend and foe alike, the conventional wisdom about the US economy's short-term and medium- to long-term prospects has been pessimistic.

Among other things, it has been said that higher tariffs will cause a US and global recession; that American exceptionalism is over; that America's fiscal and current-account deficits will become unsustainable; that the US dollar's status as the main global reserve currency will soon end; and that the dollar will sharply weaken over time.

Certainly, some of the policies that Trump has announced warrant such pessimism. Tariffs, protectionism and trade wars are likel...