OUR ECONOMIES WILL REMAIN INTEGRATED AND DEPENDENT

(Ed.'s Note: Ambassador Garza’s professional expertise, drawn from more than three decades in business, law and public diplomacy, affords his clients the breadth of experience so vital to effective cross-border and global business ventures.}

By Antonio Garza

Former Ambassador to Mexico

The Texas Tribune

...We are living through a historic pandemic, racial justice movement, economic collapse, and political tumult.

Any of these forces would be enough to shake our foundations. Combined, they are reshaping our world.

There is a lot to mourn this year. More than 1.5 million people around the world hae lost their lives

to COVID-19. Hundreds of millions more have lost their livelihoods.

There are no upsides to these tragedies. But there are lessons.

It’s clear, more than ever, just how dependent we are on one another. We depend on our first responders, our community members, and on our global supply chains to deliver products from around the world. This isn’t new, but it has rarely been laid bare across so many facets of our lives.

We have also seen how small things can shake our world. From a tiny virus to a cell phone video, we quickly transmit things to one another around the world. The focus is so often on macro trends, but this year is a reminder that singular incidents and miniscule things can spark enormous change.

This year also reminded us that our country is still far from eradicating systemic racism. It will take more than any one organization, protest, or movement. Yet, they each move us another step toward justice.

In 2021, we’ll chart a new course, but face many of the same challenges.

On January 20, 2021, a new administration will assume leadership in Washington, DC. The Biden administration has promised to make broad changes, including in addressing COVID-19, racial justice, foreign policy, and on immigration issues. This includes a 100 million vaccines plan for the first 100 days in office, which will be possible due to a warp-speed vaccine development and approval process.

These COVID-19 vaccines will push our economies back toward normality. Over the coming year, global economic growth is projected to rebound, as major economies reopen and more people get back to work. However, this economic recovery will be uneven across countries, given the differences in how quickly populations can get vaccinated and the roles that each government takes in pushing forward its economy.

Global supply chains is one area where there is a far more optimistic outlook today than just a few months ago. For months it seemed that we were watching the death of supply chains. But trade network are alive and well, and part of the solution to our economic recovery. Despite the pandemic, our countries and economies are likely to remain integrated and dependent on one another well into the future...

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