Trump’s changed the rules of world trade and we’re going to be left on the sidelines

Posted on

I tweeted last night, in response to growing concern over trade wars:

William Keegan discusses a not dissimilar idea in the Observer this morning. As he puts it:

[I]f ever there were an example of why the advisory vote by 37% of the electorate to leave the EU should be reconsidered, it is the obvious impact of the lurch into protectionism by the egregious president of the United States. This surely scotches the fantasy of Messrs Johnson, Gove and Fox that all would be plain sailing after Brexit via a wonderful new trading relationship with the US.

When the facts change the wise change their minds. And the wiser still then change their actions. But our government appears to be carrying on regardless. That's not just unwise: that is positively foolhardy. And it is most definitely not leadership.

I accept that fact that the world we have is not ideal. This whole blog is dedicated to that idea. But the chance of changing the world we live in by pretending it does not exist is remote in the extreme. We have to stay engaged. But right now we face the risk of being deeply isolated, which is a position we simply cannot afford. And yet I see almost no chance of avoiding this fate now.


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here: