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The Post COVID-19 World
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The Post COVID-19 World

Economic Nationalism Triumphant?



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Economic nationalism as an antidote to globalization and its highly interconnected supply chains is doomed to fail, according to foreign policy expert Mireya Solis. In this concise but thoughtful briefing, she cautions that reshored industries will have little motivation to increase production to meet demand during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, world political leaders need to adopt new mechanisms to manage trade disputes and keep supply pathways open for critical items like medical supplies. Globalization is not dead, Solis argues in this cogent text, but it needs a redesign.

Take-Aways

  • The coronavirus has inflicted economic damage on a scale not seen in more than a century.
  • But the global trading system was in disarray before the pandemic outbreak.
  • Economic isolation through onshoring and deglobalization is not the answer.

About the Author

Mireya Solís is a senior fellow and the director of the Center for East Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.