Harry Wu, journalist for Southern Finance Omnimedia Corp (SFC)

For many years, developed countries were asking developing countries for opening-up,butnow there has been a dramatic shiftand many rules are broken.

Carlos Miguel Gutierrez, Former US Secretary of Commerce, emphasized the importance of rules-based systemin an exclusive Dialogue with SFC journalist.

“We can't let the rules-based system go. There is an ideology that says rule-based system challenges nationalism and national sovereignty. That's a problem, because it eliminates the rules-based system. So in the meantime, while we sort that out, China and the U.S. should come together,” he said.

In the past two months, tariffs have been frequently imposed. Gutierrez expects that in the next few months, there will be some things that will affect the future direction, especially the direction of Asia. In the past, U.S. tariffs increased intra-Asian trade. If the new round of tariffs is more severe than expected, intra-Asian trade is expected to increase significantly, which will strengthen regionalization rather than globalization.

With the emergence of some anti-globalists in the world, the WTO has been weakened like other global institutions. Gutierrez said that many people want to return to a rules-based system, with international institutions regulating trade, setting trade rules and ensuring that everyone abides by these rules.

Gutierrez said that globalists believe in global governance and believe in global institutions to set rules and regulate everyone. A rules-based system allows the world to have free trade. If there is no such system, there will be chaos. He believes that the next step is for China and the U.S. to reach some kind of agreement. It cannot replace the system based on global rules, but it is at least a start, so that things will not get out of control.