{"id":77266,"date":"2025-12-05T01:12:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T01:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/?p=77266"},"modified":"2025-12-05T01:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T01:12:42","slug":"the-rise-of-global-tariffs-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/the-rise-of-global-tariffs-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of Global Tariffs, Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A new book from a noted economist seeks to explain the rise of global tariffs and trade barriers.<\/p>\n<p>Branko Milanovic is a former lead economist at the World Bank and currently teaches at the City University of New York and the London School of Economics. He\u2019s an authority on income inequality.<\/p>\n<p>His latest book, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Great-Global-Transformation-Remaking-Economic\/dp\/0226846415\/ref=sr_1_1\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">The Great Global Transformation: The United States, China, and the Remaking of the World Economic Order<\/a>,\u201d is forthcoming in March 2026. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.waterstones.com\/book\/the-great-global-transformation\/branko-milanovic\/9780241678930\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">U.K. edition<\/a>, subtitled \u201cNational Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World\u201d and released in June, made the Financial Times\u2019 \u201cBest books of 2025: Economics\u201d list.<\/p>\n<p>The book draws on the author\u2019s original research to argue that the world\u2019s two leading economies \u2014 the U.S. and China \u2014 have changed in opposite directions over the past 50 years, resulting in \u201cthe greatest reshuffling of incomes since the Industrial Revolution,\u201d and that, in turn, is causing political changes that reverse the trend towards globalization.<\/p>\n<h3>Trade Wars<\/h3>\n<p>First, he demonstrates the relative changes in income between the U.S. and China, as well as Asia and the West generally. He illuminates the data with 35 charts and graphs. Then he analyzes past economic theories, showing they can\u2019t explain whether trade promotes or reduces conflict between nations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1558465\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Great-Global-Transformation-Remaking-Economic\/dp\/0226846415\/ref=sr_1_1\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1558465\" class=\"wp-image-1558465\" title=\"Cover of The Great Global Transformation\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Great-Global-Transformation.jpg\" alt=\"Cover of The Great Global Transformation\" width=\"250\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Great-Global-Transformation.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Great-Global-Transformation-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1558465\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Great Global Transformation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The theories, he says, failed to foresee that U.S. wage earners and investors would merge into a new labor class that combines high salaries with investment returns via equity stakes such as stock options.<\/p>\n<p>Next, he provides an overview of China\u2019s internal economic and political evolution, especially under Xi Jinping, its president. Milanovic sees China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/alibaba-exec-on-suppliers-tariffs-ip\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opening to private enterprise<\/a> as different from that of the former communist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe. He believes China will continue to stand apart on the international stage.<\/p>\n<p>He believes these factors lead to increased nationalism and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/ecommerce-after-de-minimis-tariff-exemption\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">retreat from globalization<\/a>, resulting in trade wars, tariffs, sanctions, and border walls. In Milanovic\u2019s view, \u201cEconomic coercion is now considered a normal part of the foreign policy toolkit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite specialized terminology, Milanovic\u2019s writing is clear even for lay readers. He offers many provocative ideas in just under 200 pages, but no practical business guidance.<\/p>\n<p>However, the book steps back from simplistic daily news bites and places them in the context of a bigger picture. Milanovic draws parallels in political trends across countries and points out that what seems like flip-flopping or policy reversals by Xi and others may be \u201ccourse corrections\u201d towards a long-term goal. He notes that U.S. nostalgia for post-war dominance is an exception, not the norm.<\/p>\n<p>Merchants who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/smarter-paths-to-global-sales\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sell or source internationally<\/a> may find \u201cThe Great Global Transformation\u201d fresh and useful as they navigate growth.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Published by Dralys Blog \u2013 Stories | Insights | Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Discover more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dralysstore.com\" target=\"_blank\">DralysStore.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-2\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"77266\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"no\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-heart\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new book from a noted economist seeks to explain the rise of global tariffs&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":77267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[74,34,65,176,45,177,10],"class_list":["post-77266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dralys-insights","tag-dralys","tag-e-commerce","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-ecosystem","tag-innovation","tag-smart-shopping","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Great-Global-Transformation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77268,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77266\/revisions\/77268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dralysstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}