The past decade has been tough for globalization. Since the early 1950s, the global economy has become increasingly intertwined and rapidly growing. With the exception of brief periods of recession, imports and exports have always grown faster than global value creation. Growth almost automatically led to consolidation. Many regions of the world benefited greatly from this development. First, the economies of Western Europe integrated with each other and established transatlantic relationships with the market economies of North America. Since the early 1990s, post-socialist Eastern Europe, much of East Asia, and the populous countries of China and India have followed suit. There were also modest signs of economic integration in Africa and South America, while Mexico forged closer ties with the United States and Canada.
After the global financial crisis of 2008/9, this process stopped. Some observers have already declared an era of deglobalization, while others, like The Economist, have coined the term “slowbalization.” Of greater concern was the qualitative change in the world power structure. China has initiated a global policy of using trade and investment in a neo-imperialist manner to create economic dependence, particularly on Africa and the southern African periphery. Europe. The drama of leaving the EU, although eased by a last-minute agreement, swept through Europe, while the United States pursued a harsh protectionist policy under President Trump's “America First” philosophy, and The recovery in global trade was already quite slow, but in recent years, unilateral geopolitics has only added setbacks and new threats to liberal free trade.
In response to these developments, the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany's Bundestag this week called for new initiatives on trade policy. The timing could not be better, as Joe Biden's inauguration provides an opportunity for a new approach to fostering economic integration with the United States. At the heart of this effort is the creation of a transatlantic economic zone. In the economic field, there is a possibility that Europe will respond to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which was signed in November last year by 15 countries in East Asia, including China. The fear is that RCEP, which covers a market that accounts for almost 30 percent of the world's population, will become the new trendsetter in standards for trade in goods and services. Some of the RCEP countries, particularly China, are far from liberal in their concept of free and fair trade, but their market power is growing significantly. The clock is ticking. The scales are tipping step by step in China's favor.
It is clear that Europe and the United States need to work together to take countermeasures. The old transatlantic link remains the main artery of the world economy. In fact, it is the largest market in the world. Even more important is the fact that, to the east and west of the North Atlantic, are located world centers of liberal values ​​that uphold the principles of democracy, market economy, and rule of law. It was here that the idea of ​​free trade was invented. And only here they are fully implemented in a spirit of fair competition, which is fundamentally different from the state capitalism practiced, for example, in China or Russia.
Therefore, the United States and Europe under President Joe Biden must act. However, this should be done in a realistic manner. Comprehensive trade agreements like TTIP are already years old, before Donald Trump became president. This failure was not only due to the American instinct for protectionism, which has a long tradition in American history. It is above all due to the uncompromising attitude of the green opponents to globalization in Europe, especially Germany, that they fear the power of American big business and that they organize European social and environmental standards and rules. They accused him of trying to weaken the government. of the law. It's time to exorcise these ghosts and let practical common sense prevail. The United States will remain an ally, not only in the areas of defense and security policy, but also in upholding the fundamental principles of the international free order. The greatest threat to just globalization does not come from American capitalism, but from the rise of authoritarian regimes and their geopolitical ambitions through trade policy.
Don't get me wrong. There is no doubt that there is room for liberal visions and approaches in the new world of geopolitics. But they have to adapt to the new reality. Therefore, rather than ambitious large-scale multilateral projects, we would rather conclude bespoke agreements at the bilateral or plurilateral level, which can be expanded step by step, so that they can one day be applied at the global level. must be. This includes standards set by transatlantic partners, but also standards that are not. due to strong Chinese rule. That is the basic idea of ​​the FDP initiative. With determination, but also with the necessary humility in the face of new realities, we aim to move globalization forward again. This includes working to ratify the “scaled down” Transatlantic Trade Agreement, CETA, the agreement with Canada, and other EU bilateral trade agreements. It also includes reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a way that allows a post-Trump America to re-embrace and actively support the most important organization for fair trade in the world. This will require us to rediscover our common interests across the Atlantic, especially to lead tough negotiations with China and to modernize and make the WTO stronger.
