First published: Engelsberg Ideas, 03 September 2025
Trade conflict and coercion, protectionism and industrial policy, and broad definitions of national security are now increasingly familiar features as we think about the future of the fragmenting global order. For most people, this marks a sea-change from the last eight decades of neoliberal consensus on international trade, investment and finance. Yet the resurgence of this way of thinking reminds us that nations have periodically managed international commercial relations like this in the past, often at great cost to the welfare of citizens, and, worse, to global stability. The return of mercantilism, in other words, with its emphasis on nationalism, zero-sum outcomes, trade imbalances, and industrial policies, is the spectre haunting the global order. It is not surprising, moreover, that China’s $20 trillion economy is central to this phenomenon. Read on: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/is-chinas-mercantilism-cracking-up/
