'Zero-sum' approach self-destructive

TEHERAN — Moving manufacturing back to the United States in a "zero-sum" manner is practically impossible for the country and will harm itself in the long term, an Iranian researcher has said.

Protectionist and unilateral approaches and pursuing a "zero-sum economics" policy will work to the detriment of the US in the long run, Rahim Teymoori, a researcher at the Development and Foresight Research Center of the Plan and Budget Organization of Iran, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

In an article titled "America's Zero-Sum Economics Doesn't Add Up" published recently by the Foreign Policy, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said the implementation of this US trade and industrial policy, which began with the administration of former president Donald Trump and is accelerating under his successor Joe Biden, disregards other countries in a "zero-sum way" and "explicitly" targets China.

Raising doubts about the US' ability and determination to adopt the approach, Teymoori said despite what appears to be a periodic implementation of protectionist and unilateral policies and claims of pursuing them, the "unbridled" US firms are reluctant to undertake such shift, which could undermine their prospects in the global economy.

"Although such economic policies would, in the short term, possibly contribute to the US production sector on the back of the government's financial support and protection, they, in the long run, would harm the US companies' competitiveness as they would lose a big integrated market, in which their connections have been formed," he said.

"China is an important and integral part of this integrated market, having improved its ranking and status in the global value chain."

At present, it is impossible for the US production sector to reverse the outsourcing process, the researcher said, noting that the US government raises such issues only to secure votes and satiate public opinion at home.

Xinhua