Daily Times

President Xi Jinping of China delivered a historic speech last week at Davos in which he spoke about the need for free trade and globalisation. It was historic because here you had the leader of a Communist state speaking in favour ofglobalisation and international trade. Meanwhile, the newly elected leader of the “free world”, President Donald Trump in his inauguration spoke of “America first”, and the need to “buy American” and “hire American”. We stand at a significant moment in world history. With Brexit and Trump’s election, the neo-liberal economic world order which we had grown so accustomed to is being dismantled. The neo-liberal economic world order stands for less regulation of multinational enterprises, less protectionism and free trade. It is the name of a process which ostensibly started with the execution of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 and by 1994 transformed into the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is a philosophy that has given rise to bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements like North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and economic groupings like the European Union.

When I had predicted Trump’s victory as early as March last year, many disagreed. Their problem was that they were caught up in the lure of modern identity politics. Hillary Clinton was going to be the first woman president of the US. It was to be a victory for inclusive democracy. After she had lost, the same people started blaming the Electoral College system. The system performed just as it was supposed to. The US is a federation, and the Electoral College system is put in place to balance the smaller states against larger ones. Even so, Trump was up against almost insurmountable odds. Major states like California and New York were confirmed blue states. There was only a very steep, rocky and narrow path that would lead Trump to victory in the Electoral College. Populism delivered just that as Trump climbed the narrow path to presidency via Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The rust belt was where it was all decided just as I had predicted in my March article.

This is a significant fact that cannot be underscored enough. The blue-collared American worker wants his job back. Trump promised to deliver it to him. In comparison, Hillary Clinton appeared to be a snobbish elitist liberal in bed with the Wall Street and by implication the Neo-liberal power brokers.

So, the real issue behind Trump’s success is the rise of economic nationalism which is at odds not just with cardinal US policy in international trade but with Republican Party’s own creed which is conservativism. Yet, we have President Trump pushing full speed ahead with his populist agenda by threatening leading corporations via Twitter. At least the CEO of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, has openly admitted that in response to Trump’s threats of the imposition of a border tax on cars manufactured outside the US, the car company was planning on relocating its plants to the US. Other car companies will fall in line. So, will aircraft manufacturers, tech giants and others. There is a method to Trump’s madness. It will win him the day.

The most affected by Trump’s protectionism and economic nationalism would be countries like China and India. Much of this is going to change for them. Given Trump’s strong words on China and the issue of South China Sea, Pakistan’s CPEC project is going to become all the more important for the Chinese. It will be the most reliable gateway that the Chinese would have to the world markets.

As one recent piece by Andrew Korybko argues, “the convergence of so many diverse civilizational actors — including Europeans, Russians, Turks, Arabs, Iranians, Chinese, and Africans — in one state is made possible by Beijing’s One Belt One Road vision of global connectivity as manifested through CPEC, and it accordingly allows for Pakistan to mediate over a dialogue of civilizations in the 21st century.This is a pivotal role of the utmost importance and highest responsibility, and it has the very real potential of transforming Pakistan from a regional leader to a hemispheric Great Power within the next decade.”

For this to materialise, Pakistan has to get its American policy right. The key point in President Trump’s inaugural speech was that he vowed to take out “radical Islamic terrorism”. Pakistan is the frontline state in that struggle. Let us, however, face the truth. We do not have a great reputation around the world when it comes to the issue of “radical Islamic terrorism”.

Pakistan’s foremost policy objective should be reinventing itself as a liberal democratic Muslim majority state instead of a haven for radical Islam. All of the country’s institutions have to be on board, including the military, for this project. A progressive and liberal Pakistan will be in the best position to reap the benefits that the coming years are going to offer in terms of economics and geopolitics. Now imagine if Pakistan was to start executing people for blasphemy? We would become the pariah state and in the flight path of US’ campaign against “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Pakistan’s true potential can be realised if we can rein in the many sectarian and ultra-religious outfits that are creating havoc in the country. The bombing in Parachinar on Saturday is just another indication that there is a long road ahead for the country’s ruling elites to put things in order. We need to make progress on this count fast, for the more quickly we do, the earlier we will be able to become “great hemispheric power” we have the potential to.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Mr Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via Twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com