Carney on the ‘New World Order’: Global Trade, Finance, and Power Shifts

Transcript:
That’s a good question, because the world is still determining what that order will be.

First and foremost, we’re talking about how global trade will be governed. What role will the WTO play going forward? How important will bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements be, such as the partnerships we’re developing?

We’re also looking at how these agreements may link with other frameworks — for example, potential connections between trans-Pacific partnerships and the European Union.

Another major question is where financial regulation and payment-system regulation will fit into this evolving system.

The multilateral architecture that has developed over decades is being eroded. The question now is: what replaces it?

Will the new system be a patchwork of bilateral agreements, or will like-minded countries come together in specific areas to set rules?

‘Like-minded’ doesn’t mean agreement on everything. It can apply to areas such as digital trade, agriculture, climate finance, energy, and financial services.

We’re also seeing new coalitions form around geostrategy and geosecurity.

In practice, this means cooperation in areas like clean energy, conventional energy, agriculture, financial services, and the evolution of the global financial system — including cross-border payments and currency use.

Rather than these rules being developed solely through global institutions like the IMF or WTO, they are increasingly being shaped by coalitions of countries, often focused on specific regions or sectors.