3 ms·

Has this mostly been a Trump thing? Or was it going this direction before him? I was going to comment about Trump and Brexit showing us how quickly things can

Has this mostly been a Trump thing? Or was it going this direction before him? I was going to comment about Trump and Brexit showing us how quickly things can change in a democracy. But I'm too ignorant to know if that's a fair analysis of the situation.

mattrp 7y ago
This has been long coming. At least 15 years ago I was at a global Cisco conference and I met the regional manager for emea and Northern Africa. His biggest hurdle was getting companies in his region to buy from a US vendor. In contrast, China would show up with loans, equipment, services and it was not just a company, but a team effort. We often see things through the perspective of the Cold War where Western Europe was effectively a satellite state of the United States. It ceased to be that when the Berlin Wall came down. Historically Europe has had stronger ties with its eastern partners (don’t forget the whole reason Colombus even came to America in the first place was to find a route to eastern markets). So it would not surprise me in the least that Europe would over time revert to its historical alignment regardless of who the American president is.
- chibg10 7y ago
  I have no idea what relevance trade history from hundreds of years ago has to modern geopolitics and economic globalization. Historically, Europeans didn’t know North America even existed and the USA wasn’ta country
  - freeflight 7y ago
    The very same economic globalization that turns out to be rather destructive to the environment? I wonder if such problems might not end up forcing us to reconsider our trading priorities to account more for geographical distance, instead of just taking that as a given.
    - bcrosby95 7y ago
      The US seems to be geographically closer to Europe than China, so I'm not sure how this point would make Europe choose China over the US.
      - mattrp 7y ago
        I don’t think I said anything about physical proximity.
  - mattrp 7y ago
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/china-new-silk-road-explainer/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/china-new-silk-road-e...

mattrp 7y ago

This has been long coming. At least 15 years ago I was at a global Cisco conference and I met the regional manager for emea and Northern Africa. His biggest hurdle was getting companies in his region to buy from a US vendor. In contrast, China would show up with loans, equipment, services and it was not just a company, but a team effort. We often see things through the perspective of the Cold War where Western Europe was effectively a satellite state of the United States. It ceased to be that when the Berlin Wall came down. Historically Europe has had stronger ties with its eastern partners (don’t forget the whole reason Colombus even came to America in the first place was to find a route to eastern markets). So it would not surprise me in the least that Europe would over time revert to its historical alignment regardless of who the American president is.

chibg10 7y ago
I have no idea what relevance trade history from hundreds of years ago has to modern geopolitics and economic globalization. Historically, Europeans didn’t know North America even existed and the USA wasn’ta country
- freeflight 7y ago
  The very same economic globalization that turns out to be rather destructive to the environment? I wonder if such problems might not end up forcing us to reconsider our trading priorities to account more for geographical distance, instead of just taking that as a given.
  - bcrosby95 7y ago
    The US seems to be geographically closer to Europe than China, so I'm not sure how this point would make Europe choose China over the US.
    - mattrp 7y ago
      I don’t think I said anything about physical proximity.
- mattrp 7y ago
  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/china-new-silk-road-explainer/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/china-new-silk-road-e...