How should European companies think about decoupling themselves from a less dependable US?
It is a scary topic for most businesses. So wide and broad are the dependencies on American technology and finance that it can be painful to think about. “My board asked me to look into how we could de-risk, and in most cases the honest answer was to say we couldn’t,” says one European financial chief executive.
But one country closer to the US is making a pitch for partnerships with European countries and companies, arguing it is suffering what they will soon. That country is Canada, which under Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to create some kind of middle powers alliance, capable of standing up to the US as well as the more usual foes of China and Russia.