The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization

The period of globalization, which peaked between 1980 and 2015, was an artificial state that became possible because of the US protection of global trade. The US was motivated to protect shipping and open its markets to foreign products to create allies in its Cold War against the former USSR. When that country collapsed in the 1990s, the US continued to protect global trade. Before the shale revolution in the US, which made the country the largest single-country oil producer, protecting oil shipments remained in US interests. However, once the Cold War was over and the US was no longer dependent on foreign oil, protection of global trade was no longer in the country’s interests. The US pullout from shipping protection is the main driver of de-globalization. Additionally, worldwide demographic trends have contributed to it: As populations decline all over the industrialized world, export markets are shrinking. Sharp declines in population, as China will experience, threaten production ability as well. The US decision to withdraw from the globalized economy and create a de-globalized world would have many dire consequences for countries except those in North America.

Without US protection in global shipping, piracy would increase.