The 2017 G20 Priorities document, published last December, champions a cooperative approach to globalization and financial market regulation. In the introduction, German Chancellor Angela Merkel comments that “Strong international organizations are indispensable,” and asks, “How can we cooperate better?” Compare this to United States President Donald Trump's remarks, following his decision to pull out a global climate agreement that he was elected to represent “Pittsburgh, not Paris.” We are clearly seeing a collision of philosophies that threatens to disrupt the global financial regulatory collaboration and upend major policy initiatives already underway. With the twenty largest economies preparing to meet in Hamburg, Germany, in July, are we moving towards renewed harmonization or further entrenched protectionism? The latter could have serious consequences for businesses and regulators across the globe.

The tone of the G20 priorities document reinforces continued liberalism and globalization. It applauds the results the G20's post-financial crisis coordination of economic strategies, international trade and financial regulation, stating that people benefit from global action and the increasing integration of economies. Aptly responding to the surprising elections and referendums of 2016, Angela Merkel cautions that global economic challenges “…will certainly not be mastered by countries plotting a lone course, or with isolationism or protectionism” and states that “…there can be no return to a pre-globalization world.”

The Globalization Debate