The divergent interests of other countries and blocs, including China, Japan and the European Union, will make substantial alignment without the United States difficult.
Global trade policy is undergoing its first major shift since 1995, and that change could represent the largest evolution in international commerce since World War II. Over the past eight months Stratfor has been publishing a series of Trade Profiles to help clarify the motivations of the largest competitors in the world economy as they try to navigate this changing environment. With the series complete, now is a good time to take stock and reflect on the picture that these profiles form when they are combined. The global trading system we know today was largely crafted by the United States in the aftermath of World War II. In the decades after the war, the United States and Europe joined hands to gradually liberalize their economies, taking peers such as Japan along for the ride.
