National security is the new cover for US protectionism. President Donald Trump signed his steel and aluminium tariffs under that false guise. But metal bending is not the most worrisome new area for protectionism. Trade in physical goods and services has been flat for years, but digital flows of commerce and information have risen by 45-fold in the past decade, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. The trade war to fear is not in physical commodities, but in technology, which economic nationalists hope to ringfence in order to stave off competitive threats from countries such as China.
國家安全是美國保護主義的新幌子。美國總統唐納•川普(Donald Trump)在這種虛僞的幌子下籤署了命令，對美國進口的鋼鐵和鋁徵收高額關稅。但金屬並不是保護主義最令人擔憂的新領域。據麥肯錫全球研究院(McKinsey Global Institute)稱，實物商品與服務的貿易多年來一直持平，但過去10年商業和資訊的數字流動成長了45倍。真正該擔心的貿易戰並不在實體商品領域，而在技術領域，經濟民族主義者希望將技術圈護起來，以避免來自中國等國家的競爭威脅。