Globalization: The End?

Ever since after the Second World War, the world has seen a steady increase in the rate of globalization like never before. More products from overseas were being imported, immigration rates soared in almost every country, and the total global economy soared. However, all of this started crashing down on November 5, 2020, when the coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China. Starting with small ripple effects, like delays in iPhone shipments, the world started to shut down and close its borders as the globalization trend started to recede. Although many people may say that the COVID-19 Pandemic helped the growth of globalization through increasing the usage of virtual technology to connect the world, the COVID-19 Pandemic hindered the growth of globalization because the COVID-19 Pandemic helped fuel the ultra-nationalist movement and policies, which as a result caused a decline in the global economy.

The COVID-19 Pandemic hindered the continuing growth of globalization since it allowed ultra-nationalists to take advantage of the pandemic to promote racist and anti-immigration ideologies. They were able to use the pandemic to fuel hate against immigrants in order to convey their own ideas of keeping their countries to themselves. For example, in America, many ultra-nationalists targeted Asian Americans, as “[t[he analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, this month examined hate crimes in 16 of America’s largest cities. It revealed that while such crimes in 2020 decreased overall by 7 percent, those targeting Asian people rose by nearly 150 percent” (Yam). Although violent hate crimes decreased across America, hate crimes against Asians doubled because of the pandemic. People targeted only Asians for these horrific hate crimes because they believed that Asians were at fault for the coronavirus pandemic and that their immigration to the US allowed the coronavirus to spread into America. In addition, these violent attacks send a message to those who were thinking about immigrating to the US and discouraged them from coming into the US, which in turn lowers the rate of globalization as the flow of cultural exchange would dramatically decrease.

These types of anti-immigration and race-motivated hate crimes hinder the growth of globalization because it gives momentum to these anti-immigration policies which could potentially affect the rate of immigration into the US. For example, in April 2020, President Trump ordered a halt on the issuance of green cards because of the COVID-19 pandemic (Steiner). According to the New York Times, “‘By pausing immigration, we will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens. So important,’ the president said. ‘It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad. We must first take care of the American worker.’”(Steiner). In this quote, the president is saying that immigration must be paused for American citizens to find work that they lost because of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Trump was able to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to aggressively push his anti-immigration policies by arguing that the American workers who were harmed because of the pandemic needed to be protected. As a result, immigrants who were seeking to start a new life and contribute to the country are unable to attain a green card and have no choice but to return to their home country. Protectionist policies like this hurt the growth of globalization because it restricts the flow of culture between countries. However, what many ultra-nationalists do not realize is that globalization is vital for not only America’s economy but also for other country’s economy.

Policies enacted by different nations that limit interactions between countries have affected global relations between countries, which hinder the progress of globalization. Most notably, China and the US tensions have exponentially increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to detract the public’s attention away from the domestic issues going on in America, President Trump blamed China for their inability to control the COVID-19 spread and even went as far as to say that there was a great possibility that China created the virus as a bioweapon. However, this has negatively affected globalization as, “Chinese state media outlets have portrayed the United States as a diminishing and hostile power. Washington’s perceived failure in global health leadership and bullying of Beijing have convinced even liberal-minded elites in China that the country should move to reduce the risks associated with interdependence with the United States.” (Huang). Both countries are attacking each other to send a message to their own people that their own government is in the right and the other is in the wrong. This leads to growing tensions between not only just China and America but also other nations who are allies to these countries, including Australia, France, India, and Pakistan. Compared to the relationship between China and America from just a couple of months ago in January 2020 when they signed the Phase One Trade Deal, the two countries have become bitter enemies as a result of the pandemic. In other words, the two biggest countries blaming each other for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is creating a divide between these countries and their allies, which is reversing the effect of globalization. When countries have tension within them, the global trade would slow down since countries are now more reluctant to trade with each other, as we have seen between China and America.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has taken a massive toll as trade between nations has faltered, which in turn, slows down the growth of globalization. With many limitations, including lockdown borders, reduced air travel, and, as stated above, more nationalistic policies being passed, nations are unable to benefit each other on the economic scale since international trade is being halted. According to a Havard Business Report published at the start of the pandemic said that “[t]he crisis and the necessary public health response are causing the largest and fastest decline in international flows in modern history. Current forecasts, while inevitably rough at this stage, call for a 13–32% decline in merchandise trade, a 30–40% reduction in foreign direct investment, and a 44–80% drop in international airline passengers in 2020” (Altman). In other words, the flow of money and goods between countries are rapidly declining, which causes fewer countries to work together due to this pandemic. Specifically, in the tourism industry, the 80% drop in airline passengers not only results in a decrease in economic growth in the tourism industry but also results in a decrease in cultural exchange between people of different nations. This severely hinders the growth of globalization because without important global cooperations, like foreign investments and merchandise trade flow between countries, nations are less likely to interact and benefit each other. Until trade flow between countries is restored to pre-pandemic levels, the rate of the growth of globalization would be hindered.

Many may say that the growth of globalization is still increasing despite the ongoing pandemic because the pandemic has allowed people to connect with others remotely without having to leave their homes. For example, people who were forced to stay at home because of the pandemic had a higher tendency to use social media to connect with strangers from all around the world. An evident example of this is the rise of TikTok, a platform where users from all over the world can create, post, and interact with short videos. According to the TikTok Report, TikTok had accumulated 700 million users by the end of 2020, a 100% increase from the number of users in 2019 (Iqbal). Because people had nothing to do since they were not allowed to leave their homes, people were forced to connect with people from all around the world through platforms like these. Many say that platforms like these are the reason why the rate of globalization did not stop at all, as the cultural flow between people from all over the world increased exponentially. In addition, many people utilized platforms like TikTok to raise awareness to social issues, like countering the AAPI violence and the Black Lives Matters movement. In other words, the pandemic forced the world to be a smaller and tighter place as the pandemic helped grow platforms like TikTok, which allowed people of different cultures to interact with each other. Although this might be true, platforms like TikTok could not mend the wound in globalization that the governments have created with each other, since they are unable to restore the global economy to pre-pandemic levels or help sway national governments to be more friendly to each other. Also, the majority of issues that TikTok helped raise awareness to only apply to domestic issues within the United States, as had no impact on globalization. Even then, meaningful connections are barely made on platforms like TikTok, as people who spend their time on TikTok only spend a few minutes or even seconds interacting with each video.

Although it may seem like globalization has not taken a toll because of the rapid rise of platforms that promote people from different cultures to connect with each other, the rate of globalization has taken a tumble because of the rise of ultra-nationalism and the rapid decline of the global economy. Even if governments from around the world solve the coronavirus crisis and eradicates COVID-19, governments still face the issue of increasing the rate of globalization back to pre-pandemic levels.

Works Cited

Altman, Steven A. “Will COVID-19 Have a Lasting Impact on Globalization?” Harvard Business Review, 23 Apr. 2021, https://hbr.org/2020/05/will-covid-19-have-a-lasting-impact-on-globalization.

Iqbal, Mansoor. “Tiktok Revenue and Usage Statistics (2021).” Business of Apps, 28 Sept. 2021, https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/.

Yam, Kimmy. “Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Increased by Nearly 150% in 2020, Mostly in N.Y. and L.A., New Report Says.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 9 Mar. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264.

Huang, Yanzhong. “How 2020 Shaped U.s.-China Relations.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/article/how-2020-shaped-us-china-relations.

Steiner, Michael. “Trump Halts New Green Cards, but Backs off Broader Immigration Ban.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-immigration-ban.html.