Abstract

As we step into the spring of 2017, there is tremendous uncertainty over the prospects for cooperation in the global economy.

On the occasion of his inauguration and in his first address to Congress, US President Donald Trump proposed an “America First” new age, and highlighted “buy American, hire American” as two policy principles. This economic nationalism could potentially signal a U-turn for the country that has championed the current international liberal economic order since the end of the Second World War.

Emboldened by this stance, echoes are reverberating both in the form of validation of a rising wave of inward-looking policies in a selection of key economies in Eastern Europe and South Asia, as well as in vitriol rhetoric in electoral politics across the Atlantic. Much of the rest of the world remains perplexed, observing these developments with a mixture of stunned silence and audible recrimination.

In such a context what are the implications for rules-based global integration and what role could China play?