‘No one forced US capital, firms to move abroad’: Kanwal Sibal calls out Howard Lutnick's failed logic on globalisation failing the US

No one forced globalisation on the US, it was, in fact, the main force behind it, said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. His remarks were made in response to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s statements in World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos. Lutnick said globalisation “failed the West and the US”, and that the country was left behind. 

“The US itself was the main force behind globalisation. It was made possible by the collapse of the Soviet Union and US unilateralism that followed. Globalisation was a product of the belief in the end of history in US circles. Globalisation became integral to the unchallenged assertion of America’s  global hegemony,” he said.

Sibal added that no one forced US capital and companies to move abroad and produce goods at a lower cost and looser pollution regulations. Job losses in the US happened in full knowledge of its governments, said Sibal. 

“The US let this happen as it preferred to concentrate on maintaining its advance in high technology areas and wield its financial domination,” he said, calling out Lutnick’s arguments. He said Lutnick is sounding as if the world imposed globalisation on the US. 

Trump’s team is now inveighing against globalisation because it benefitted other countries where Washington and its allies invested. These countries’ economy and military might took off, eroding America’s. 

“Lutnick is factually wrong. Why engage in convenient deception?” he said. 

The US Commerce Secretary said that the Trump administration and he were in Davos to make a clear point – that “globalisation has failed the West and the United States of America”.

He called it a “failed policy”, something the WEF has always stood for. He said the WEF also batted for exporting, offshoring, far-shoring, and finding the cheapest labour in the world. 

“The fact is it has left America behind. It has left the American workers behind. And what we are here to say is ‘America First’ is a different model, one that we encourage other countries to consider, which is that our workers come first,” Lutnick said, adding that a country should not offshore its entire industrial structure and have it hollowed out. “You should not be dependent,” he said.