Unlike the Great Depression of 1929, in the current crises, one should not even expect a repeat of the policy of protectionism. The level of internationalization and global interdependence of capital is so high that any attempt to isolate a separate economic system is doomed to failure.
In every crisis, weaker capital was the first victim in the struggle for economic power. This happened in the newly industrialized countries – Asia (1997), Brazil (1998 and 2002), Argentina (2000/2001), and Turkey (2000/2001). Their growth was largely fueled by credit, and they had no chance of competing against TNCs as markets got tighter. As a result of the crisis and with the help of IMF instruments, it was possible to open up still partially blocked national economies and prepare them for the expansion of international capital. In its programs, the IMF dictated the need to privatize state-owned companies and infrastructure, which could later pass into the hands of TNCs.
Transnational capital has filled the world economy, which has become a new impetus after the aforementioned crises. Even the “Japanese fortress” could no longer isolate itself from the crisis in the 90s – and suffered a powerful blow. The Japanese auto industry, for example, is now almost entirely concentrated in the hands of foreign multinational corporations. However, even with the global recession, which is actually happening today, for a year and a half, no steps have been noticed on the part of the leading economic countries in the direction of serious protectionism. Such a claim cannot be refuted by individual trade conflicts, such as with respect to the steel trade or agricultural or farm “wars”.
In addition, this “steel war” was like shooting blanks, primarily because of the significant benefits for the EU and Japan. In contrast to internationalization mainly based on trade that took place on the eve of the world economic crisis of 1929-1932, today globalization is mainly based on the merger of capital. The invention of protective customs tariffs and trade barriers, as was done then, will now have no effect due to the presence of a number of parent companies and their branches around the world. The network of trade, capital, and financial ties is so dense today that no industrial country can avoid the danger of economic collapse.
TNCs have reached such a scale that it allows us to consider the entire globe as a huge market. Even the United States, the country with the most domestic market, today has problems returning to a state of “luxury isolation” – autarchy and protectionism. The global economy would be engulfed in chaos if the United States, for example, reduced trade or cash flows to and from its country, or restricted transactions between American TNCs and their 8,000 subsidiaries around the world. Therefore, the United States will continue to link national markets to achieve a single and uniform global market space.
