The idea is a by-product of Trump’s America First policy: not only the USA, but also Europe is increasingly falling into the camp of a new anti-globalization movement. Economy no longer takes place in the economy, but should now be organized in value-oriented cycles.
The politicians involved are in their element at Schloss Elmau: They want to save everything that isn’t nailed down. the west. The world peace. The climate. The economy.
In their savior pose, politicians can’t help but keep looking for new Belzebuben, which they’re trying to drive out with the devil. Before: The rich. The US multinationals. Wall Street. Nowadays: The Chinese. The Russians. The globalization.
The devil goes by the names of nationalism, protectionism or, more recently – that’s the somewhat timid variant – decoupling. In Washington, this means the welding apart of the value-added cycles, which were coupled together in the course of globalization and which are now to be decoupled again – for cultural, ethical or security policy reasons.
Donald Trump was the first to come up with the idea. Basically, it was a by-product of his America First policy. If one’s own country comes first, then others must come behind and someone must come last.
Joe Biden and the Democratic Left rejoiced in the idea of moving cheap jobs out of China back to the US and not allowing China to become a serious rival in the high-tech sector.
The dollar is the blood in the veins of the United States and Silicon Valley is the heart muscle that pushes this blood through the arteries. The concept of decoupling is linked to the plan that blood will never be donated for undemocratic systems.
In the course of the Ukraine war, Europe also fell into the camp of the new anti-globalization movement. Economy no longer takes place in the economy, but should now be organized in value-oriented cycles. Slowbalisation is the name of the concept, which in turn owes its name to the Dutch futurologist Adjiedj Bakas:
This slowbalization trend is international, but it is not rational. Here are the five arguments against moving away from free trade.
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1. The only real victims of free trade are those states that do not participate in it. Since 1990, when a phase of accelerated globalization began with the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1.2 billion people have been lifted out of poverty. The forgotten states of Africa or Asia were no longer forgotten.
2. Turning away from economic efficiency criteria in the choice of location and purchasing conditions inevitably leads to the politicization of economic relations. The previous principle that all investors are equal no longer applies. Politics acts as a price driver. The phase of falling prices globally, which contributed to mass prosperity in particular in air travel, mobile phones, the food market and vehicle construction, is likely to be over. Price is now becoming a political variable.
3. If the primacy of politics dominates the economic cycle in the future, serious mismanagement is likely to occur sooner or later. Politicians cannot help but introduce their ecological, social and location-political criteria and, if possible, enforce them. In the best case, the products and services will become more ecological, social and national – but in any case they will become more expensive.
4. The bastard economy, which asserted itself on the financial markets in the course of the financial crisis – when states rescued the banks and the banks rescued the states, and when neither of them knew what to do, they went to the central bank – is now expanding its sphere of influence. The bastard left the financial district.
5. This also changes the course of national economic and financial policies. For three decades efforts have been made to sign free trade agreements and lower the barriers to global trade towards zero. Now the customs and tax politicians have their grand entrance.
American imports from China make all goods and services more expensive, Trump increased the special tariff for imported goods from 10 to 25 percent. This led to one of the largest tax increases in decades: Americans had to pay almost an additional 80 billion dollars by levying tariffs.
Conclusion: The world should not become more peaceful under this new regime of “political trade”. The dollar and the energy industry, the high tech industry and the resource industry are now being weaponized, as the Americans say. During these days, the military strategist Carl von Clausewitz is being translated into economics: the economy becomes a continuation of the war by other means.
At first there are no dead, only many victims. First and foremost: the prosperity of the masses.
Gabor Steingart is one of the best-known journalists in the country. He publishes the newsletter The Pioneer Briefing. The podcast of the same name is Germany’s leading daily podcast for politics and business. Since May 2020, Steingart has been working with his editorial staff on the ship “The Pioneer One”. Before founding Media Pioneer, Steingart was, among other things, CEO of the Handelsblatt Media Group. You can subscribe to his free newsletter here.
