India, Nov. 10 -- Talk to a supporter, and he has won the games handsomely. Converse with a critic, and he is not remotely close to a single win. The truth, as we know, is not known socially. It lurks under the data and figures, and under trends and patterns. The fact remains that the US president Donald Trump is caught in a zero-sum game. Each time he wins, some Americans lose. Each time he loses, outsiders win. But the fact remains that while the US may not have gained much in the past 10 months, it has not lost much.

Four reasons explain why things have neither gone south for Trump, nor gone north. They indicate two sides of the same coins. The first is that America is not an export-driven economy. Indeed, selling to others constitute...