Trade data shows no decoupling + Inequality debate during Covid

Decoupling is currently the buzzword in foreign trade discussions. Especially after the supply chain shocks of recent years, the decoupling of national economies is on the agenda of many economic policymakers – including in Germany. In addition, the United States also has to deal with its rivalry with China. It seems that the hope in Washington is to stop helping the rise of the new superpower through trade and technology flows.

However, the plan to slow down China is failing spectacularly at the moment, analyzes Frank Sieren. China’s economy is anything but decoupled from global trade. On the contrary. China is trading more avidly than ever before. With whom? With partners along the Silk Road and neighboring Asian countries.

China’s international rise has been accompanied by growing prosperity at home. But the gains are unevenly distributed. This has become all too apparent to the public in the capital Beijing over the past few days. Because in China, every step made by individuals infected with Covid is visible on the Internet. The first two movement profiles of the new year belonged to a decadent luxury shopper and a day laborer who scrapes by with dirty and exhausting jobs. Regardless of how much truth there is to these cases, the capital of communist China debates about the rift between rich and poor, writes Fabian Kretschmer.

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Finn Mayer-Kuckuk