Who will win the war of neo-mercantilists?
China’s high degree of self-sufficiency also reduces its vulnerability to coercion by others.
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In 2024, China’s manufacturing value added was nearly as big as those of the US and the euro zone together, making it an effective mercantilist power.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Martin Wolf
We are living in a mercantilist era. By this, I mean one in which the concerns of policymakers are as much those of security as of prosperity. This, as I argued in “The dangerous triumph of neo-mercantilism”, threatens both the stability of the world economy and relations among great powers. China is also better suited to mercantilism than the US and EU.
Mercantilists seek power and security or, in other words, the ability to bully others and resist being bullied by them in turn. How might one measure these capabilities?
