Deglobalisation seems to be moving up a gear. The US House of Representatives last week passed a bill that would in effect ban TikTok in America unless its Chinese owner sells the video-sharing app. Barely 24 hours later, President Joe Biden signalled his opposition to the proposed $14.9bn takeover of US Steel by Nippon Steel of Japan, saying it was vital for America’s third-largest steelmaker to remain “domestically owned and operated”. Both moves have been portrayed, in broad terms, as linked to national security. One looks more like crude electoral politics.
去全球化似乎正在加速。美國衆議院上週通過了一項法案，除非TikTok的中國所有者出售這款影片分享應用，否則該法案實際上將在美國封禁TikTok。僅僅24小時後，美國總統喬•拜登(Joe Biden)表示，他反對日本日本製鐵(Nippon Steel)以149億美元收購美國鋼鐵公司(US Steel)的提議，稱美國第三大鋼鐵製造商保持「美國所有權和在國內經營」至關重要。總的來說，這兩項舉措都被描述爲與國家安全有關。但其中之一看起來更像是粗暴的選舉政治。