The UK cannot take foreign investment for granted Foreign direct investment plays a greater role in the UK than in other advanced economies. Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images Globalisation is in question, for better and for worse, so it is worth reiterating just how much the UK benefits from one of its key pillars: foreign investment. Foreign investors frequently make negative headlines. This was especially true in 2020, which saw the US, UK and other nations take major steps against Chinese companies such as Huawei and TikTok. Last month, the New York Stock Exchange delisted three Chinese telecom companies.
Joe Biden s “Made in America” rhetoric is about to meet the ongoing reality of globalisation Most new manufacturing jobs in the US are the result of foreign investment. Chip Somodevilla / Getty images The last five years has seen the comeback of economic nationalism. Much of this has been rhetorical, with President Trump shouting the loudest. “Bring back our jobs,” he proclaimed in his inaugural presidential speech. One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind. In the 2016 US elections, these sentiments won Trump the support of “left behind” workers, snatching him victory across the key Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – America’s former industrial heartland. Four years later, president-elect Joe Biden managed to win them back, not least by taking a leaf out of Trump’s book.
On 18 November Ashwani Gupta, the chief operating officer of Nissan, told Reuters what would happen to the UK s largest factory in the case of a no-deal Brexit. Nissan s giant Sunderland plant employs 7,000 workers and can produce more than 1,000 cars in a single day. “If [no deal] happens without any sustainable business case.” said Gupta, “obviously our UK business will not be sustainable, that’s it.” Nissan has been issuing this warning for four years, and received “assurances” from the government that it would be protected from the impact of Brexit. The 30,000 workers whose jobs depend on the Sunderland site and its supply chain will very soon find out how real this threat is.