By Independent News Roundup
RT: Howard Lutnick speaks during an event at the White House in Washington DC, December 19, 2025 © Getty Images / Alex Wong
Globalization is a “failed policy” that has “left America behind,”
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared in Davos on Tuesday,
accusing the World Economic Forum (WEF) of pushing a globalist agenda
that undermines the West.
“The Trump administration and
myself, we are here to make a very clear point: globalization has failed
the West and the United States of America,” Lutnick told attendees, before turning on the organizers of the summit.
“It’s
a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for, which is export,
offshore, far-shore, find the cheapest labor in the world and the world
is a better place for it,” he said. “The fact is it has left
America behind. It has left the American workers behind. And what we are
here to say is ‘America First’ is a different model, one that we
encourage other countries to consider.”
US President Donald Trump railed against globalization during all
three of his presidential campaigns, and at high-profile gatherings like
Davos. Vowing to re-industrialize the US and use tariffs to stop the
flow of jobs to foreign countries, he promised in 2016 that he would “no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism.”
Ten
years later, Trump’s program of economic nationalism has strained
relations with US allies. Trump threatened eight European NATO member
states with 10% tariffs last week, over their opposition to his planned
annexation of Greenland, prompting the EU to halt ratification of a
landmark trade deal with the US and threaten retaliatory tariffs of his
own.
Trump’s allies have also gone ahead and forged deals with
the US’ chief economic rival, China. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
inked a preliminary trade deal with Beijing last week, describing the
agreement as the beginning of “a new strategic partnership” between both countries.
French
President Emmanuel Macron, who has led the charge in pressing the EU to
impose retaliatory levies on the US, called on Tuesday for “more Chinese direct investment in Europe, particularly in critical sectors.”
During his speech on Tuesday, Lutnick warned that the EU’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 would make the bloc “subservient to China,” as wind and solar energy requires Chinese-made batteries.
Lutnick
caused commotion at a dinner hosted by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink later
on Tuesday evening. According to multiple media reports, the secretary
delivered another anti-Europe speech that led to European Central Bank
President Christine Lagarde walking out and the dinner being canceled
before dessert.
Globalization has FAILED.
— U.S. Commerce Dept. (@CommerceGov) January 20, 2026
Secretary Lutnick at the World Economic Forum:
“The Trump Administration and I are here to make a very clear point—globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy… and it has left America behind.”
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