• Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, told the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council meeting in Geneva on Wednesday that by eroding the post-World War II economic model, the U.S. withdrawal from the so-called “global order” poses a critically important threat to the factor that has built European economic prosperity for almost seven decades.
  • Lagarde explained that the post-war economic model that spurred European growth was founded on three pillars. The first was the expansion of global trade. The second was the energy supply and the manufacturing infrastructure built around it. The third was a stable, rules-based international order protected by the U.S., which enabled European firms to concentrate on the efficiency of their investments and supply chains to become more integrated, without the concerns of sovereignty and self-sufficiency.
  • Lagarde said that the global order that Europe relied on is no longer the case, citing geopolitical tensions and the reliance on critical supplies. The analysis is clear: for decades, European elites assumed that the U.S. would remain a steady and unwavering participant in the global order. They criticized American political values while relying on American consumers, American innovation, and American military might. They never addressed the situation where the U.S. would simply exit the post-war arrangement.
  • The Trump administration is resetting the global order and forcing Europe to confront its past and present failings.

Source: cdm.press