An arms race on industrial policy is the last thing Europe needs
The writer is an FT contributing editor and writes the Chartbook newsletter
This has been the year of industrial policy. In pursuit of rapid decarbonisation, supply chain resilience and decoupling from China, we are witnessing a redrawing of the boundary between the government and business on both sides of the Atlantic. This means picking winners and living with the risk of getting it wrong. It means getting into bed with producers who sell you their solutions in exchange for preferential treatment. It also goes hand in hand with rising international tension.
Already in 1742, David Hume was warning of conflict spurred by the “jealousy of trade”. In the early 1900s, the liberal JA Hobson and the Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin agreed in denouncing the violent era of imperialism produced by the marriage of private capital with the nation state.
Then, it seemed as though rapacious business was the main driver. Today, economics still…
