MUCH has been said about the so-called takeover of the Republican Party by US President Donald Trump and its transformation from a pro free market party into an economic nationalist political force that embraces protectionism and a mercantilist approach to trade.

To be fair to the GOP, most Republican senators continue to subscribe to the principles enunciated by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman. These policymakers have voiced reservations over the use of tariffs to resolve trade problems, and over Mr Trump's attempts to infringe on the independence of the US Federal Reserve.

But at the same time, there are signs that a new ideological breed of Republicans is now emerging, as seen in the likes of Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. The charismatic politician was elected the youngest member of the Senate at age 39 in 2018. A self-proclaimed Trumpist, he is proud to call himself an economic nationalist. In many ways, he sounds occasionally more anti-business than some of the Democratic Party's left-leaning progressives. Indeed, Senator Hawley seems to have joined advocates such as Democratic senators and presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in a campaign against Big Tech giants Google, Amazon and Facebook, blaming the crown jewels of the American economy for many of the nation's political, economic and social issues; and has proposed to break them up.