In the 1990s, China began rapidly expanding its manufacturing capacity. At the same time, India, grappling with a balance of payments crisis, launched sweeping economic reforms—dismantling the Licence Raj and opening up to the global market. These reforms sparked a surge in economic growth.
Meanwhile, the United States dramatically increased outsourcing to China, turning it into a critical trading partner. In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization—a watershed moment in global trade. By 2008, the Communist Party-led nation had overtaken the US as the world’s dominant manufacturing powerhouse.
Nearly two decades later, the US, under Donald Trump, is attempting to reverse over 40 years of globalisation that helped fuel China’s rise.
America now seeks to ‘decouple’ from China, raising import duties to a staggering 145%. For the rest of…
