If you are looking for another indication that global commerce has been turned on its head, consider this: Perhaps the most damaging development in trade today is not tariffs or quotas on imports – though these are troubling too – it’s the growing propensity of governments to slow, or even stop, the flow of exports. Keith Rockwell takes us into the history and impact of one of the most toxic of trade impediments. A new generation of telecommunications standards is emerging: As 5G gives way to 6G, a new global scramble for trade and technology markets and influence is already underway, Nate Picarsic and Emily de la Bruyère write. Plus, watch ourTrade Talk on the age of trade fragmentation and check out what we have been reading lately.
NEW PAPER
The very real costs of export controls
Keith Rockwell 19 September 2023
The global financial crisis, the pandemic, the US-China clash of the titans, and the war in Ukraine have upset the global equilibrium and driven most countries into a me-first mode. No one should not be surprised by this. When crisis strikes, the first objective of all governments is the protection of its own people. But do these export restrictions even work? Our Senior Research Fellow Keith Rockwell takes us into a world awash in export controls.
A new generation of telecommunications standards is emerging: In the years ahead, the 5G era will give way to 6G. This will catalyze a new scramble for market and technological influence. The result may be a global telecommunications network that is as fragmented as the geopolitical environment has become. The 5G competition was a race with competitors all headed for a single prize; the 6G era may more likely resemble a quiltwork with dividing lines poised to bleed into a new telco standard right from the point of design.
Global macro and trade shocks over the past 15 years have upended the post-World War II framework for international economic cooperation. They have also set in motion a widespread reassessment of how trade should be conducted, largely as domestic policy in many countries scrambled to keep pace with the changes. Protectionism has become the hallmark of trade policy worldwide. At a time when the logic for collective action on climate change, poverty reduction, and preparing for future pandemics has never been more acute, the folly of fragmentation is, instead, in ascendancy. Watch this discussion with our Senior Research Fellow Keith Rockwell, a former director at the World Trade Organization.
The leaders of the G20 economies met in New Delhi last weekend in a time of increasing global tensions. Was the summit a success or failure? What accounts for China’s economic downturn? Explore our reading list for the latest developments in global trade.
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