Chapter 24 The world trading system has become alien?

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, trade negotiations among countries did not change substantially.Global international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, are gradually strengthening their role in negotiations among countries, and negotiations between China, the United States, China and Europe, and other countries are shaping a new international trade pattern for the world.The trade ministers of various countries conducted urgent consultations with the leaders of other countries on behalf of their countries.They represent the interests of their respective interest groups, and these interest groups are backed by powerful enterprises.

Despite the rapid development of global integration advocated in the 20th century, the traditional view still holds that national interests should end within national borders.But today, states have ceded some powers to international organizations, such as the United Nations or the World Health Organization.Because these organizations are better able to achieve interests that sovereign states cannot.The starting point of international relations is national security, and now national security has expanded to the economic field, and in addition to bilateral and multilateral relations, it has integrated thousands of non-governmental organizations.Nevertheless, it is still sovereign states that play a leading role in international relations, because national borders, political systems, military forces, and central banks are all still under the jurisdiction of sovereign states.

Different voices can be heard everywhere.Many technologists in Silicon Valley envision a world without borders, where people connect with each other via the Internet and interact with each other without state interference.For the real world, this is just a virtual situation.However, free trade without national barriers is growing rapidly, and both individuals, companies and countries want to get a piece of this huge cake.Maybe one day, the power of national governments will be weakened, and supranational alliances like the European Union will prevail around the world, but whether sovereign governments are powerful or weak, the fact that they are important members of the international community cannot be changed.

In the 1990s, the mutual influence between China and the United States and between China and the world was mainly based on the relationship between countries.Companies still define their identities by their country, their activities are still domestically concentrated, and their main source of funding is the domestic capital market.Although companies regard the international market as a global system that transcends national and international political institutions, everyone who works in the international market still belongs to a certain sovereign country.China's accession to the World Trade Organization continues to alter the balance of power between the national government and multinational corporations, while also having a profound impact on the relationship between business managers and employees.

So things are not what they seem: the world trading system is shifting from one familiar paradigm to another unfamiliar one.This is no longer another document signed by two countries, this is the birth of a new model of cooperation.After the global financial system was hit by the economic crisis of 2008-2009, the concept of "Central America" ​​was questioned by many people.However, the economic crisis proves that traditional trade patterns have changed.The United States and China occupy a clear advantage in the global trading system. The more than one billion Chinese and the 300 million Americans constitute a huge world market, and the world market is still restricted by national borders and nation-states.The fusion of China and the United States is real, but many people do not share this view.

The traditional thinking of nation-states is not conducive to the integration of China and the United States, and judging from various economic data, it is difficult to see that China and the United States can form an economic body.In order to better understand the accelerated development of Sino-US relations after the "9.11" terrorist attacks, it is necessary for us to explore the understanding of the economy.