How Biden Can Restore Multilateralism Unilaterally

NEW YORK – There is so much to celebrate with the new year. The arrival of safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines means that there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel (though the next few months will be horrific). Equally important, America’s <...> president will be replaced by his polar opposite: a man of decency, honesty, and professionalism




True, the US Constitution and those of its 50 states survived and protected American democracy from the worst of Trump’s malign impulses. But the fact that 74 million Americans voted for another four years of his grotesque misrule leaves a chill. What might the next election bring? Why should others trust a country that might repudiate everything it stands for just four years from now?

The world needs more than Trump’s narrow transactional approach; so does the US. The only way forward is through true multilateralism, in which American exceptionalism is genuinely subordinated to common interests and values, international institutions, and a form of rule of law from which the US is not exemptThis would represent a major shift for the US, from a position of longstanding hegemony to one built on partnerships.



One obvious priority will be the post-pandemic recovery, which will not be strong anywhere until it’s strong everywhere. We cannot count on China to play as pronounced a role in driving global demand this time around as it did in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Moreover, developing and emerging economies lack the resources for the massive stimulus programs that the US and Europe have provided to their economies. What is needed, as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has pointed out, is a massive issuance of SDRs. Some $500 billion of this global “money” could be issued overnight if only the US Secretary of the Treasury would approve.






For example, the Trump administration’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada largely did away with the investment provisions that had become among the most noxious aspects of international economic relations. And now, Trump’s Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, is using the time he has left in office to call for “anti-dumping” sanctions against countries that give their companies an advantage by ignoring global environmental standards. Considering that I included a similar proposal in my 2006 book, Making Globalization Work, there now seem to be ample grounds for a new bipartisan consensus on trade.


© Project Syndicate 1995-2021 

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