by Salman Rafi Sheikh, New Eastern Outlook:

It is “Globalization 2.0.” Indeed, this is how US officials led by Katharine Tai, the US Trade Representative, define the ‘new’ US Economic and Trade policy. “Globalization 1.0.” is said to have its limitations and that “Globalization 2.0” will overcome these limitations for Washington. In a testimony to the US Senate in March 2022, Tai described “Globalization 2.0” as a “worker-centered Trade Policy” – a policy that supposedly puts workers at the center of trade and seeks to enhance labour standards. In reality, the so-called “Globalization 2.0” involves a concerted US effort to rewrite the rulers of the way trade happens across the world. This politics of rewriting trade patterns was given an official articulation in the National Security Strategy published in October 2022. As the document highlights, notwithstanding the umpteen benefits that globalization has offered to the United States, it does need some “adjustment.”