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Conrad Black: Carney's failed diversification gambit

Gradually we will become less dependent on trade with the U.S., but we must focus on pro-growth strategies

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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to lead Canada out of the economic and foreign policy shadow of the United States, and his bizarre Davos plan to lead a Thucydidean “middle power” revolt against Washington, has accomplished virtually nothing. Highly publicized overtures to China and western Europe are inconsequential. The United States still buys 68 per cent of our exports and provides 56 per cent of our imports.

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The last refuge of the anti-Americans, China, which 10 years ago was supposedly about to pass the United States as the world’s greatest economy, is stagnating. China’s rate of growth is minimal. Artificial intelligence is producing a modest lift but China is receiving a small fraction of the annual AI investment of the United States. It is not achieving productivity levels that can make up for the sharply declining Chinese population, a consequence of the former leadership’s one-child policy. The Chinese population is expected to be cut in half by the end of this century. A giant real estate bubble has burst and the People’s Republic has responded with a heavy-handed regulatory crackdown, which saw billions in capital fleeing China and its financial markets, US$425 billion (C$597 billion) last year alone, according to writer and investor Ruchir Sharma.

Conrad Black: Carney's failed diversification........

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