Martin Wolf: Trump’s most fundamental characteristics in terms of his impact on the world is, he rejects the American role as the leader of the world economic system in a liberalizing opening direction. He wants to reverse that. That reverses all of American foreign policy and foreign economic policy, but also foreign policy since the middle of the 1940s. And, similarly he wants to reject the role of America as the guarantor of the Pax Americana, the guarantor of global stability and essentially to reject the American role as the foundation stone of the alliance system. So in essence, he is rejecting the entire post world system that the US has created, established and underpinned. In that world, we’re in a completely and totally different world.
David McWilliams: You only miss something when it’s gone. That‘s the thing about it.
Martin Wolf: You have to have a hegemon in my view. I’m very much with those people who believe you have to have it. Up to the First World War for better or for worse, often worse it was Britain. But still it provided basic stability in the world and America has done it more successfully since the Second World War. There is no replacement without a question. China is not willing, nor able nor in my view capable of playing this role. Europe is clearly incapable of playing this role, and all the others are spoilers. So, if the US really withdraws the world system is smashed, as we know it. Globalization starts shrinking. Trade starts shrinking. Capital flows shrink. Financial globalization goes into reverse. And there are also conflicts, possibly with China. Russia probably becomes more encroaching. Europe becomes less stable because of that. The whole global system feels less stable and less open and less dynamic.
21 окт 2024
