A coordinated global response is needed to defend multilateralism
- The world is moving towards a common position against the protectionist onslaught of the Trump administration
- How well efforts are progressing will be apparent at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, at the end of the month
The threat of an economic crisis and worse is moving the world towards a common position against the protectionist onslaught of United States leader Donald Trump’s administration.
With trade, technology and security in the balance, Vice-President Wang Qishan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently joined forces to defend the global multilateral order, the day the same sentiment was expressed by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Even Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has voiced concern, setting aside pomp for politics at the banquet for the visiting American to praise the institutions established after World War II that have ensured peace and stability.
As tariffs bite, stock markets falter and financial and security structures and alliances increasingly come under pressure, governments have to work together.
While meeting Merkel in Berlin on May 31, Wang asked Germany to work with China to build a more just governance system to deal with rising uncertainty.
The chancellor spoke of the need for international collaboration and coordination to counter threats; a day earlier, giving the commencement speech at Harvard University, she urged graduates to reject protectionism and “tear down walls of ignorance” that feed nationalism and isolationism.
With trade, “the very foundations of our prosperity” under fire, she called for nations to “work together rather than alone”.
But even as she spoke, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Germany pushing efforts for American allies to shut out the Chinese technology giant Huawei on national security grounds.
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The US’ weaponising of trade, as with China and now Mexico, is the biggest threat to global economic growth and development.
It prompted Lee, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, to raise the importance of multilateralism, particularly for smaller nations, so that they could strengthen their influence as a group.
Without referring to China or the US, he said big powers should ensure regional cooperation initiatives were open and inclusive and help bring nations together, not “create rival blocs, deepen fault lines or force countries to take sides”.
But Trump’s criticism and shunning of the established global order are also cause for concern and that is what the British monarch turned to last Monday while feting Trump.
Highlighting the efforts made after World War II to ensure stability, she spoke of the importance of “nations working together to safeguard a hard-won peace”.
A coordinated global response is the best way to fight back. How well efforts are progressing will be apparent at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, at the end of the month.
