Should-Read: Martin Sandbu: Globalisation goes on without those who want to get off

Should-Read: Martin Sandbu: Globalisation goes on without those who want to get off: “The EU, Japan and Canada keep the economic openness show on the road… https://www.ft.com/content/97582468-5fc7-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1

…The significance of this imminent accomplishment is only matched by the degree to which it is ignored by the public…. The EU, flanked by Japan and Canada, has taken on the leadership mantle of economic globalisation. Even more importantly, if implemented, the two deals show that Europe is capable of leading successfully…. For countries such as the US and the UK, which behave as if they have been victimised by globalisation, the new European trade deals show the wrong-headedness of their self-pity…. The US and the UK can hurt themselves by throwing up barriers to trade between themselves and their trading partners. But that is all they will achieve; there will not be a reorientation of “better” or “fairer” trade that will somehow improve on the status quo ante. (Of course there are plenty of domestic policies that these countries can improve, but there is no need to deglobalise to make those changes.) Meanwhile the countries that have stuck to their senses will simply move ahead shaping the global economy…