Friend of Democracy,
I could well have imagined that global trade is declining because of Donald Trump's tariff escapades.
The opposite is the case.
World trade continues to rise. So far this year, it has even grown more strongly than forecast.
For example, Chinese exports have increased overall, even though they have declined to the USA, New York globalisation researcher Steven Altman recently explained in the German newspaper FAZ (here).
And the theory that there is less trade between world regions is also incorrect. "Such predictions that trade is becoming more regional have been around for at least 15 years. The reasons given were sometimes climate protection, sometimes rising transport costs," Altman said. In fact, however, the average transport distances are not decreasing but continuing to increase.
In a nutshell: Trump is destroying a lot of things. Probably not global trade. Even his power is limited.
See you in Democracy,
Johannes Eber