Deglobalization and new markets: Why major economies are isolating themselves

In this episode of Economic Challenges, Handelsblatt chief economist Bert Rürup and Michael Hüther, director of the German Economic Institute, discuss why the major economies are sealing off their markets again.

Hüther points to world trade elasticity: Until the financial crisis, trade grew significantly faster than world production; today the value is one. He does not see this as a collapse, but as a new spatial structure that forces companies and states to take precautions. As an example, he cites Sanofi's insulin factory in Frankfurt - subsidized with 400 million euros, the only human insulin production in the European Economic Area. “Power politics is in the foreground,” says Hüther.

Rürup sees a comeback of the idea of ​​self-sufficiency: the USA and China said goodbye to the market that supported their rise. It remains unclear whether the EU can become the third pillar of the global economy.