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Pandemic, Wars, MAGAnomics, And The Manufacturization Of The Economy: Donald Trump, Karl Marx, And The Mercantilists – OpEd

3 0
21.07.2026

Hyperglobalization, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, which disrupted global supply chains, has given way to confrontational globalization: Global supply chains have begun to be rerouted through friendshoring, nearshoring, and inshoring, which also includes reshoring.

For President Donald Trump, who aims to revive the American economy, friendshoring and nearshoring are unacceptable: MAGAnomics is based solely on inshoring, where not only do previously departed manufacturing companies return to the country (reshoring), but other companies in this sector of the economy must also give preference to operating in the United States.

The primary instrument for increasing the share of manufacturing in the US economy is the imposition of high tariffs: Prioritizing manufacturing bears a superficial resemblance to Karl Marx’s economic theory. However, the far more obvious parallel is with the economic views of the mercantilists, which were thoroughly criticized by Adam Smith as early as the 18th century.

The mass offshoring of manufacturing enterprises from developed to developing countries began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This process was driven by declining industrial profitability, rising wages in developed countries, the growing strength of trade unions, and the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979. In search of lower labor costs, corporations began to transfer labor-intensive industries (textiles, electronics, assembly, household appliance production) to developing countries, including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico. The development of modern logistics, which provided the infrastructure for global supply chains, became another significant driver of this relocation.

It should be noted that this process of deindustrialization affected not only developed countries, but also some developing countries. The results of this “premature deindustrialization” for these countries included significant economic consequences (e.g., lower economic growth) and political consequences (e.g., democratic failure).

The “liberation” of developed economies from the “burden” of manufacturing led to a greater focus on the development of finance, services, information technology, consulting, intellectual property, the platform economy, and related sectors.

As a result, a new division of the global economy emerged. Developed countries became characterized primarily by advanced financial, service, and information technology sectors, while manufacturing became concentrated mainly in relatively successful developing countries.

Since the mid-1990s, the intensification of international trade and the expansion of global supply chains have contributed to........

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