Some of the countries like Russia, China and a few members of the EU have, of late, started raising questions over growing US dominance in the global economic order. Speaking in front of business and political leaders at the annual Saint Petersburg International Forum, Russia's Vladimir Putin accused Washington of seeking to "extend its jurisdiction to the whole world" and lashed out at "inequalities" in the global economic system. Denouncing the "rhetoric of trade wars and sanctions", he also called for rethinking the role of US dollar in global trade. Besides, he pointed to US efforts to block the building of Nord Stream 2, a major new natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that would bypass Ukraine. Talking about Washington's pressure on Chinese tech giant Huawei, Putin said that "they are trying not to just squeeze out, but to unceremoniously push (Huawei) out of the global market." He also made a case for increased foreign investment as Russia was very keen to revive an economy hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine and the drop in oil prices. China's Xi was somewhat less critical than Russia's Putin and reiterated that steps were needed to be taken to overcome inequalities in the global economic system. He also stated that China was looking to build "beneficial cooperation on the basis of equality and natural respect" and share technological innovations with all partners, in particular 5G technology.
While Moscow and Beijing have openly spoken about the behaviour of the US, some of the EU member counties are also wary about the US attitude regarding its superiority in world affairs and imposing sanctions on various countries those do not toe its line. Much touted in this connection is the agreement with Iran which bound the country not to develop nuclear capability in exchange for lifting of sanctions. The fact that the US has consigned the agreement to the dustbin of history has not been seen favourably by major EU countries and does not befit the sole superpower which is supposed to lead by example. It may also be mentioned that economic relationship between Moscow and the EU continues to be strong and the EU remains the biggest foreign investor in Russia despite political tensions and repeated rounds of sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. So far as relationship between Russia and China is concerned, Putin and Xi speak openly about their warm personal ties; Xi going to the extent of saying that "Putin was his best friend". Moscow and Beijing's economic ties have also grown in recent years though they remain heavily tilted in favour of China. The partnership has yielded increasing trade which grew by 25 percent in 2018 to hit a record dollar 108 billion. In the meantime, China is also planning to establish a system that would ensure national security in technology, amid an expanding trade war with the US which has snared Huawei. Such a step would protect China's key technologies and be a major step to counter US crackdown. As for the Putin's statement to reconsider the role of US dollar in global trade, its importance cannot be reduced till the US economy is the largest in the world and its currency is not only freely convertible and acceptable but serves as a medium of exchange and is used to settle international transactions all over the world.
While the conflict on trade and technology protection is continuing or deepening among the top economies of the world, the developing and emerging economies are hoping that good sense would ultimately prevail to save the world from the curse of protectionism and trade blocks built to preserve self-economic interests. Of course, major responsibility for avoiding such a situation rests with the US authorities is required to let the other nations also project their self-interests and play their due role in the global economy. Unfortunately, the Doha Round which could have been useful in renegotiating the rules of the game and facilitate world trade is almost a dead horse now and nobody talks about it anymore. The world's top financial policymakers have also admitted that trade tensions had worsened and posed a risk to the global economy, after a recent G20 meeting that laid bare differences between the US and other nations. We could only hope that major economic powers could devise a mechanism that would resolve global trade disputes amicably and avert an economic crisis that could push most of the countries towards recession and mass unemployment.