COMMENT | The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to see a further retreat of globalisation. Donald Trump’s recent executive order to limit immigration to the US, his announcement to withhold US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and his threat to India’s initial refusal to release the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, hint that states could turn their back on globalisation in the post-Covid19 world.

What’s adding to the worry is that at a time when the world badly needs global leadership, the crisis has revealed a lack of one. The G20 recent emergency meeting saw global leaders failing to come up with concrete details at handling the crisis other than grand statements of intent.

The US particularly has been disappointing. To think that it has the technology, science, and other resources, the US' lackadaisical and chaotic response to the crisis does not inspire much confidence. But by and large, world leaders have refrained from the vocabularies of globalisation, preferring to stay away from commenting on issues dealing with migration, cross border trade, or the need for greater multilateralism...