Private Equity
Blue Sky Capital Resources Insights - July 2019 Macro Thoughts
July 2019
Are global capitalism and free trade in decline? This is the first question that comes to mind when I consider where we are today in terms of the global economy. Since the Trump election, “America first” and similar nationalist paradigms have generated significant impact in economic considerations throughout the world. What does this mean, and how will this affect the future of economic growth and trade? For Trump, tariffs have been a favorite tool. He has accelerated the increases in tariffs and continues to threaten more unless he gets his way. To some extent I agree that certain countries have benefited at the expense of the U.S. for too long. Principle among the issues where this disparity can be identified is in the case of intellectual property rights. With that said, several questions remain: Are tariffs the best course of action? Does trying to renegotiate every trade agreement at once make sense? Thus far this course of action has been extremely disruptive with few, if any, tangible successes. History clearly shows us that tariffs are a lose-lose mechanism.
For the full post click here.