Patriotism Is Replacing Purpose in American Business
13th August 2024
What America’s two political tribes want from business is not always the same. When it comes to the environment and diversity, they are at loggerheads. That helps explain why chief executives’ enthusiasm for esg, which Republicans deride as woke capitalism, has proved so brittle. But both Democrats and Republicans are eager for corporate America to churn out middle-class jobs while remaining one step ahead of China in the race for technological supremacy. Calls for corporate purpose may have quietened. Those for corporate patriotism are getting louder.
Although there has “always been the proverbial military-industrial complex”, says Curtis Milhaupt of Stanford Law School, “the number of firms wrapped up in national-security policy is much larger today.” Trade for some industries has become fraught. Companies dealing in areas of cutting-edge technology must now keep one eye fixed on the expanding list of Chinese firms they cannot do business with. Carmakers are bracing for rules prohibiting the use of Chinese software in autonomous vehicles. Some fret that Mr Trump, if he is re-elected in November, could expand export restrictions—though he may also lean harder on allies to match America’s measures on China, lessening their impact on American businesses, notes Jeremy Zucker of Dechert, a law firm.