The concept implies that the world is ceasing to operate on a global scale, as it had been doing through economic cooperation and integration between countries since the fall of the Berlin Wall and until after the global economic crisis of 2008. .
Now, the leaders who speak of self-sufficiency are back: Brexit in 2016 and Donald Trump in 2017, explains Mario Correa, president of the National Committee for Economic Studies of the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF).
Also in Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to power in 2018 with the speech of “there is no better foreign policy than the internal one”, in addition to seeking self-sufficiency in fuel and food, given the dependence of the United States in these sectors.
“Self-sufficiency makes no sense because, taken to the extreme, we would go back to being gatherers and hunters. It is very unfortunate that this deglobalization movement is taking place, because it implies less cooperation, higher costs, more conflicts and frictions. It is bad news for the world”, says Correa.
Goodbye to globalization?
Following a perception of deglobalization, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute refers to a deeply interconnected world, resilient international trade flows despite disruption from the pandemic and economic and political turbulence, multinational companies that account for two-thirds of world exports, in addition to an integration driven by international flows of intangibles, services and students.
Most of the global flows of goods, services and data continued to grow or even accelerated in the years 2020 and 2021, McKinsey refers to in a report published at the end of 2022.
“Although there is talk of deglobalization, I consider that this is not possible, there is no going back to globalization. Economies are interconnected, what happens in one geographical point has an exponential impact around the world, and this is called the butterfly effect”, explains Aribel Contreras, coordinator of the degree in Global Business at the Universidad Iberoamericana.
For example, a button: the pandemic exposed the importance of multilateralism for the issue of vaccines, and with the war it became evident that what is happening in Ukraine and Russia has affected the world, especially with the rise in prices. fuel and grain prices, says the specialist in foreign trade.
“Globalization has not stopped, it simply takes on new nuances, new rhythms and new speed”, emphasizes Contreras.
In his book The Globalization Myth, Shannon K. O’Neil warns of a global regionalization that is being shaped by three large blocks: North America, Europe and Asia, and that manufacturing will be the predominant activity. The also vice president of Nelson and David Rockefeller Studies for Latin America of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), abounds that regionalization generates benefits for consumers because it stimulates innovation and the creation of jobs that add value.
