Canada · China · Donald Trump · Fortune Technology
Geopolitical risk needs to move away from the ‘after-dinner speaker’: Eurasia Group and Rio Tinto’s Dominic Barton
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Surprise U.S. tariffs.
Key facts
- China released the “Two Michaels”—Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor—in 2021, after the U.S. agreed to defer prosecution of Meng
- Barton spoke with Fortune days after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods including autos, dairy, and alcohol
- Barton declined to discuss Rio Tinto in significant detail, citing the company’s July 29 earnings release
- We’re in a world where all the assumptions about international institutions, free trade, a rules-based order—that’s all going away,” said Dominic Barton, strategic counselor to Eurasia Group
Summary
“We’re in a world where all the assumptions about international institutions, free trade, a rules-based order—that’s all going away,” said Dominic Barton, strategic counselor to Eurasia Group and chair of Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. Barton spoke with Fortune days after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods including autos, dairy, and alcohol. (to show how changeable things are, on Aug. 19 Trump announced—on social media—that he will delay the new Canada tariffs by three days as the two countries near a deal ). Barton is a veteran McKinsey leader turned Canadian diplomat turned Rio Tinto chairman; that experience gives him a well-informed perspective on how executives need to think about geopolitical scenarios.