canada.com

By Barbara Yaffe

Oil at $200 a barrel is not far off and with it a new world order that will see the demise of globalization.

That prediction is put forward in a new book by well-known Canadian economist Jeff Rubin: Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller.

Money, of course, makes the world go round and when transportation costs become punishing people start looking to buy local.

The author reasons that the price advantage currently held by low-wage countries will simply disappear.

And Rubin cites a second factor that substantiates his theory -- the introduction of carbon pricing.

The U.S. -- and Canada and presumably other developed countries -- soon will mandate a cap-and-trade scheme that would impose tariffs on goods deriving from nations that don't similarly restrict carbon emissions.

What this would mean is extra duties, or a pollution tax, on imports coming from places like China. Such tariffs again would negate the cost advantage of imports from low-wage countries.

All of which explains why North American labour unions are starting to find