Heine Writes on World Trade in Global Times
Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, wrote an op-ed on changing leadership at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the decline of global trade in the Global Times.
In the op-ed, Heine discusses how the shifting global power dynamics in the WTO, the current industrial revolution, and international crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the dynamics of world trade.
An excerpt:
Some years ago, the argument was posited that the key distinction was no longer between capitalist and socialist states, but rather between open and closed ones. It was said that only open economies and open societies could make the most of what is offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the opportunities it offers on AI, robotics, cloud computing and the Internet of Things.
Today, the irony is that the very countries that once championed free trade and the international arrangements that make free trade possible are closing up borders and raising obstacles to the free flow of goods and services. The last best champions of free trade can now be found in the Global South, rather than in an increasingly protectionist, isolationist and inward-looking North.
The full op-ed can be read here.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more on him here.