Our trade allows China to do what it wants

Too bad for Wisconsin. That changed this week because the $ 10 billion factory that Chinese Foxconn will set up there will be canceled. Foxconn, which is in the hands of Taiwan but based in China, has agreed to invest with the Donald Trump administration. See here the extent of his ‘transactional’ way of doing politics. Trump is gone, the deal is gone.

That’s what you get when the president is less, less, and more of a person than a company. Everything continues to exist or fall. The continuity of policy, including international agreements, depends on the continuity of leadership. After a while, the above (usually) man can clearly see without it at all. So there is an objective need for a long stay – a duty he naturally submits himself to in a humble, selfless manner.

In the United States, checks and balances won very little of the growing dynastic presidency at the end of last year. But in Russia, President Putin can now hold office until 2036, while in China the term of President Xi Jinping’s term has been removed.

This further shakes the position of large-scale international agreements. In a speech on Tuesday, G called for confronting the ‘disconnection’ of the major powers in the economy. Of course, this is mainly about the relationship between the current superpower, the United States and the emerging superpower China. Only if the rest of the world needs more for its economic and technological development will the latter benefit greatly by having a supplier to other parts of the world.

The impending severance, Shi warned, was not entirely a political event. The epidemic has exposed the vulnerability of international production chains. In normal times these are very efficient and accelerate the international workforce with a positive outcome for everyone involved – i.e. on paper. But when it comes to sand in that machine, it shows just how vulnerable economies are when the flow of international goods stops.

At the same time, whether there will be widespread conflicts around Taiwan depends on the almighty Shia. As such, there will be economic shock in the production chains, which will cover up the epidemic.

Such anticipation would give the West a strong impetus to defend and disconnect itself against a new supply shock – Shi fears. This is because China’s vital role in many production chains gives the country the freedom to act as it pleases. Look at the Uyghurs. We don’t really get much more than ‘ho ho, it’s not possible’. The term ‘rare earths’ summarizes all opposition. Our trade will no longer bind China. On the contrary: it gives China the freedom to do whatever it wants.

Thus, more productivity is brought back home in the future. Public opinion is already leaning towards it. The balance of power is in the balance, with all possible conflicts in its rise. Technology is ideal for that. Due to the reaction to the raw pages of globalization and the growing inequality, the state is already being pushed back to its old role as economic director.

So the elements of a new business are collected: international trade as a political transaction between states. Was Trump ahead of his time here? Incidentally, perhaps, and without a plan. But that never stopped me from taking credit after that.

Morton Shinkel Writes about economics and financial markets.