Donald Trump and Brexit put world trade into the foreground of international politics. Trump’s policy consistency over 30 years in favouring transactional, mercantilist trade deals and opposing trade deficits and debts is often underestimated. Secondary sanctions will be used ruthlessly against states and companies using its Huawei 5G technology, on grounds of security cutting right across established World Trade Organisation rules. Brexit is a battering ram against the EU’s regulatory power, looking forward to US retaliatory trade disputes with Brussels on steel, cars and agriculture. Ireland is strengthened by European solidarity yet is vulnerable to future EU, UK and US pressure.

Source: The Irish Times June 08, 2019 00:56 UTC