New York Times: Globalization’s Backlash Comes at Wrong Time

US voters responded to promises of tariffs, jobs and protectionism during the 2016 presidential campaign and spurred a backlash to globalization: “It is coming after the major costs of globalization have already been borne,” explains Neil Irwin for the New York Times. “And it comes just as billions of people who have become integrated into the global economy over the last three decades are starting to become rich enough to become valuable consumers. In short, the anti-globalization drive that is spreading across the Western world may be coming at exactly the wrong time — too late to do much to save the working-class jobs that were lost, but early enough to risk damaging the ability of rich nations to sell advanced goods and services to the rapidly expanding global middle class.” Irwin argues that globalization’s pace is more uneven than constant, and reversals are possible. Since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, globalization of cross-border trade and money flows has subsided; global manufacturing has transformed with automation. US protectionists fight battles of the past, neglecting innovation and potential markets for services. The fast-growing middle class in the emerging economies are customers as well as competitors. – YaleGlobal