In the early 2010s, then-prime minister David Cameron was fond of invoking the “global race” for prosperity. The idea was that with capital and goods flowing around the world at ever greater speed, Britain had to work harder and smarter if it was to keep up. More than a decade later, some of those coalition-era concerns remain relevant; household and government budgets are stretched and fear of national impoverishment is more acute than ever. But the phrase “global race” itself feels hopelessly outdated, implying as it does that global economic competition is akin to some vast multinational school sports day, governed by rules of fair play and a benevolent referee.
Over the last decade, the global “runners” have started to play dirty – elbowing each other with tariffs and trying to trip each other up with export restrictions. Governments have started doping their own industries with subsidies. Increasingly, international commerce resembles less a footrace than it does a fistfight. In the worst cases, trade has become a weapon of war. Witness Vladimir Putin’s energy blackmail, which tried (and failed) to
