Economic Statecraft Is Not Economic War

If you want to understand economic war, you need to begin by understanding the difference between economic statecraft and economic war.

In this video, part of CIGI’s Canada at Economic War project, Raquel Garbers outlines the clear distinction between the United States’ actions to reset its trade relationship with its allies and the economic warfare conducted by China while highlighting the dangers of conflating the two.

For many US trade partners, it came as a shock when the Biden administration announced in October 2023 that it would withdraw its support for proposals to encourage cross-border free flow of data being discussed at the World Trade Organization. The United States later issued executive orders to restrict the sale and transfer of various types of data to China and several other adversary nations.

In this paper, Susan Ariel Aaronson examines how and why the United States became increasingly concerned about the national security risks of cross-border free flow of data and the impact of such restrictions on data.

Early on, China recognized the importance of data for artificial intelligence (AI), but, Susan Ariel Aaronson and Michael Moreno write in this opinion, it “may have made a data ‘misstep’” in allowing “government agencies to share data about Chinese companies and citizens, create a centralized scoring mechanism to assess the financial creditworthiness of individuals and companies, and use that data to nudge citizens toward state-sanctioned ‘moral values.’” Now, “although the Trump administration has worked to thwart China’s AI leadership, it is copying some aspects of China’s data policies by creating a unified federal data set.”

Despite the problems, they write, there is also “a potential upside to the Trump administration’s attempts to create a unified data set. It could motivate Congress to finally update privacy laws for the information age and forbid the creation of such a data set.”

“Donald Trump swept into office in 2024 on the promise of ‘America First’ — a rejection of costly foreign entanglements and a renewed focus on rebuilding the American economy, industry and national spirit….But Trump 2.0, as seen in his recent foreign policy stances and actions, suggests a different agenda is at play.”

In this opinion, S. Yash Kalash discusses the shifts in posture and behaviour that are raising “ethical red flags” and marking this presidency as one being “weaponize[d]…for personal profit.”

“The global order is undergoing a profound transformation, marked by a shift away from American unipolarity and toward a new era defined by multipolar rivalry. At the heart of this transformation is the role of risk and crisis as the cornerstones of a loosely coupled global system.”

In this opinion, Daniel Araya says that the new order arising is redefining the way in which power operates across civilizational, ideological and technological lines of control, with no single power setting the rules: “Rather, peace is shaped through military deterrence and the shared threat of global extinction.”

“The year 2024 was pivotal for AI interference in elections. Ironically, commentators were quick to swing from declaring elections in 2024 as doomed by AI, to diminishing the impact it had to a minimum — or even denying that AI had any impact at all. Instead of operating in these cycles of doom and reprieve, we should be looking at the data and deriving lessons for future elections.”

Cameron McKay and Inga Trauthig discuss in this opinion some of the findings reported recently by the International Panel on the Information Environment, which examined “how AI has been employed in elections around the world in 2024, and what this might teach us about current and future trends.”

Sep. 24 and Sep. 25 – 7:00 a.m. EDT (UTC–04:00): Opportunities in digital finance are emerging in India and China and on the African continent. The Future of Digital Finance Conference will delve into the topics of regulatory collaboration, global governance, financial inclusion and technical advancements in cross-border payments across these three regions.

Hosted by CIGI, this virtual event will convene policy makers, industry experts, academics and civil society stakeholders to exchange insights, identify synergies and propose actionable policy solutions. Register now.