UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves rejects calls for ‘buy British’ campaign in response to US tariffs
Reeves rejects calls for ‘buy British’ campaign in response to US tariffs
If you want to see what ideology can do to a nation's elite, look at the United Kingdom today.
London isn't a global financial center because the British have special genes for money. London is a global finance center because the United Kingdom was the most powerful global empire that the world had ever seen.
Throughout history, the powerful nations scream "FREE TRADE, OPEN YOUR MARKETS. NOW !!!" because they are confident. They know that their big corporations can be unleashed on the small countries. At the peak of its power, the UK was the most free trade country in the world. In London, the UK elite were 100% confident their corporations could dominate the world. The Chinese try to resist? They don't want to accept our corporations ? We will make them open their market, whether they like or not.
For a long period, the US was actually a protectionist country.
Why did the entire US elite became a cheerleader of globalization after World War 2 ? Extreme confidence. They know that globalization means Coca-Cola, Starbucks Coffee, Amazon, Adobe, Boeing, Microsoft and Apple can be unleashed on the planet.
From Tokyo to Mumbai, from Montreal to Rio de Janeiro, from Mecca to Sydney. They want to see McDonalds and Starbucks everywhere. They want Amazon everywhere. They want Adobe Software and Microsoft Windows everywhere. They want to see Apple phones everywhere.
In recent years, the Chinese started to build sophisticated large corporations capable of threatening US dominance in fields like Pharma, Satellites, Chips, Robotics, Technology, Planes.
That's when the US elite really started to worry. Under the Biden administration, the americans tried to throw money at Intel and Boeing. They created a powerful wall to protect car corporations against BYD. Trump is just a symptom of the american panic, but he is crude and ignorant.
The British are no longer an empire. They are increasingly a small little country like many others. And like all small countries, they are fucked by corporate empires like Starbucks Coffee or Amazon
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-19967397
https://www.channel4.com/news/amazons-tax-bill-and-government-grants-revealed
Make absolutely no mistake. Going to Amazon is worse for the economy than going to a British-owned book store. Going to Starbucks is worse for the economy than going to a British-citizen owned coffee. Anyone telling you otherwise is taking you for a fool. In one case the money is leaving Britain and increasing the foreign deficit. In another case, the money is taxed and stays in Britain.
The London elites, still believe they run the British empire. They openly scream "We LOVE globalization, we LOVE free trade". These fools went as far as selling their critical water infrastructure to foreign investors and bragging about it ("Britain is open for business").
Now, Trump openly declared a trade war on them. The British Chancellor reacts by saying calls for buying British products are bad because it's against free trade.
That's what happens when you completely swallow your own bullshit.
As a German, i.e. someone from a country which was forced to have a good long look at its past and reject it within living memory, the way the UK reveres its own Empire past is downright bizarre. It can only be compared to things like the quasi-religious view the US have about their founding fathers or the way Russia thinks it has a natural right to rule countries around it.
I always found it interesting how Scandinavians celebrate their viking past. Viking culture in general is rather popular even though the core of their identity was pillaging and raping people. My best guess is that it's a mixture of distance (time) and vibes. Dropped some bombs and killed 3000 people? On to the next news. Flew some planes into a few buildings and cause the same amount of deaths? Never forgetti.
Frankly, she's right. What you see countries like Canada doing is just as nationalist as what the US is doing, and the UK would be wise to stay out of it.
We need to stop this cascade of nationalism. Nationalism only leads to war. When countries are interdependent, they lose more than they gain through bloodshed. This is the only reason the past eighty years have been relatively calm, with wars only concentrated in places with little economic interdependence between aggressors.
Globalism, despite its faults, is the only true force for peace.
Also most british products kind of suck... (British person here)
That said I'm still up for avoiding american brands because its hard to talk about animal rights when you're being mauled by a bear.
Boycott America? Sure. Buy British? Nice sounding sentiment, but don't fall for the trap. There are some resources we've got. Some we don't. Maximize our strengths, work with our friends.
She's got to go, surely. She's so disconnected with what the people are looking for. Whenever she speaks, Labour vote evaporate.