The Global Trading System – What Went Wrong: CFR
The turn of this century saw promising and exceptional development in the global trading system with the World Trade Organization and many other multilateral trade agreements. But during the last decade, the loss of jobs due to automation and outsourced labor has led to nationalist, anti-globalization backlash and protectionist measures in many countries, including Europe and the United States. While the gains of increased global trade and the IT revolution are apparent, technology contributed to a divergence in wealth between the most developed countries and the rest of the world. Income inequality between high-school education workers and college-educated workers has never been higher, and workers’ declining leverage in a global trading system has led to wages under pressure and companies reaping higher profits. Stakeholders have not adjusted to the challenges, whether it’s the US maintaining sufficient education investment to help American workers or China playing a greater role in the trading system to offset US power. Both countries have begun to respond with protectionist measures, but more sustainable response include ending trade wars, reevaluation of international financial systems with leadership reform, and domestic policies that fight inequality, the root of all public grievances. – YaleGlobal
The Global Trading System – What Went Wrong: CFR
Trade has flourished in recent decades, but automation and outsourcing led to the loss of jobs, protectionism and anti-globalization backlash
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Read the article from the Council of Foreign Relatons about the problems with global trade and some possible fixes.
Edward Alden is the Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness, trade, and immigration policy. He is the author of the book Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy, which focuses on the federal government’s failure to respond effectively to competitive challenges on issues such as trade, currency, worker retraining, education, and infrastructure.
Council on Foreign Relations
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