Photo: Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, DG WTO
By Gabriel Efe
Human resilience is astonishing—not for its brilliance, but for its persistence in the face of constant absurdity. We weathered COVID, rewired systems on the fly, and momentarily reminded ourselves that survival demands innovation. Just when it seemed like we’d turned a corner, here comes another spectacle: a trade war masquerading as industrial policy.
This isn’t a strategy. It’s performance art—clumsy, costly, and hollow.
There’s been little consideration for how everyday people are supposed to navigate the fallout. No real reckoning with the global repercussions. Just a political reflex to “act,” even if that action takes the form of a misfired tariff plan rooted more in fantasy than fact.
Let’s call it what it is: not economic realignment, but geopolitical cosplay. Two superpowers are posturing. One forged through labour, manufacturing, and sheer volume. The other is propped up by code, capital, and conveniently short-term memory. One is rolling out production lines. The other is peddling narratives.
And somewhere between them stands Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, holding the WTO together with what must be sheer willpower, while the planet’s economic heavyweights use it as a stage for their tantrums. It’s less diplomacy and more damage control at a missile silo.
There’s no coherent long game here. No collective vision. Just a patchwork of nationalistic gestures, playing out like a game of economic charades. This isn’t industrial policy—it’s industrial vandalism with better branding.
The worst part? No one’s winning. These aren’t measures designed to uplift economies or people—they’re designed to score points, which shift weekly based on political weather.
Still, the machine lurches forward, clanking, sparking, staggering under its contradictions. One can’t help but wonder what keeps the WTO’s Director-General coming back. Maybe it’s an obligation. Maybe it’s hope. Or maybe she knows someone has to stay behind the wheel, while the rest of them toss the map into the fire.
