TPT May 2009

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From the AmericaS
77 May 2009 ›
Coming to Tube & Pipe Technology in July:
‘Global Marketplace’
Beginning with the next issue of Tube & Pipe Technology, ‘From
the Americas’ will have a new name and a new, broader field of
interest. In acknowledgment of the wider perspective that has, in
fact, informed this column for a while now, it is to become ‘Global
Marketplace’.
Tube & Pipe Technology has readers in over 100 countries of the
world. Acknowledgment of the concerns of that extended public
is essential for intelligent analysis of the crucial issues facing our
global industry in exceptionally challenging times.
This will be the third re-naming since the inauguration of ‘A steel
view of America’, some 18 years ago, by Intras founder John
C Hogg. At intervals, his insistence on topicality widened the
coverage: first, from steel to the USA at large; then, from heavy
metals to the surrounding industrial sector; still later, to the entire
matrix, not excluding the political, within which tube and pipe
makers conduct business.
At the most recent re-branding, as ‘From the Americas’, Mr Hogg
had only one instruction for the proprietor of the column. It was
characteristically brief: “Don’t let the USA be the whole show.”
Even with the most diligent monitoring of the news from Hudson
Bay to Tierra del Fuego, compliance with this directive was not so
easy. The US generated most of the copy; resistance was futile.
But Mr Hogg, whose singular gift was to recognize trends before
they became shifts, was ahead of his time. Now, of course, the
USA is not “the whole show.”
As this is being written, President Barack Obama is preparing to
leave Washington for London and the ‘crisis summit’ of the Group
of 20 major economies. While there is nothing new about such
gatherings on Olympus, there is something very new about the
preparations for it made by this president. Since he took office
on 20 January, he has been calling world leaders almost daily.
He discussed his trip and the global economic crisis with British,
French, and German leaders, among others.
The White House has promised a series of one-on-one
conversations with the leaders of Turkey, Spain, Saudi Arabia,
South Korea, China, India, and Britain. In Istanbul, he is expected
to hold a global, video-based town hall meeting that will allow
students from across Europe and Asia to ask questions.
Developing nations will be exerting greater influence from now on,
not least on the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.
For the first time, emerging giants China, Brazil, Russia, India, and
Mexico are believed to be planning major financial contributions,
which would grant them more of a voice in how the IMF conducts
global economic affairs. China is poised to produce the biggest
gift, pledging an estimated $50 billion. That will buy a very big
megaphone indeed.
In his call for a new approach to reviving the global economy
through government spending, tougher regulation of financial
institutions, and an embrace of free trade, Mr Obama will be one
among many leaders of a changed world – and he knows it. The
latest re-naming and reorientation of ‘From the Americas’ reflects
this global awareness.