The global trade system is in desperate need of an overhaul

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US plans to invest billions of dollars to domestically manufacture cargo cranes to replace the use of Chinese-built cranes at US ports over fears around a potential national security risk underline how fractured world trade is becoming. Photograph: Shutterstock John Maynard Keynes saw today’s trade troubles coming. Back in 1944 at Bretton Woods, he advocated a global trading system that would target persistent imbalances between surplus and deficit countries, rather than policing one-off trade violations. Too bad that’s not what we got. As the World Trade Organisation’s 13th ministerial meeting starts on Monday, I suspect the conversation around trade will...