The Trap

I decided to pick up Jimmy's prescient paperback recently after listening to US VP JD Vance give a resounding speech at the EU's Munich Security Conference. I'm glad I did as it reminded me of the many reasons why Goldsmith was considered a giant among men in his time. He burned brightly and passed far too soon, if he was still with us he'd be waving that index finger of his with a prophetic vigour, warning of the very crises unfolding today.

Published in 1994, The Trap is Sir James Goldsmith’s fiery critique of globalisation, free trade, and the increasing centralisation of political power. He warns that exposing Western economies to competition from low-wage nations would lead to mass job losses, social upheaval, and a decline in national self-sufficiency. Decades later, his predictions seem eerily accurate, particularly in the last 15 years.

A staunch advocate for localism, Goldsmith believed governance should be rooted in the needs of individual nations and, crucially, in the hands of local councils rather than distant bureaucracies detached from reality. He saw the European Union as an undemocratic force that would strip nations of sovereignty, replacing accountable decision-making with rigid, centralised control. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he championed decentralisation, arguing that power should flow downward to communities rather than upward to national or supranational elites.

Goldsmith was also a firm believer in testing theory in the real world. He had no patience for ideological rigidity—if experience proved an idea wrong, it was discarded. Nowhere was this clearer than in his own business career. In his early days running Cavenham Foods, he believed in the power of centralised decision-making and the economies of scale that came with “big business.” But reality proved otherwise. As Cavenham grew into one of the largest food conglomerates in Europe, he saw firsthand how excessive centralisation stifled agility and innovation. The larger and more bureaucratic the company became, the less responsive it was to changing markets.

This hard-earned lesson reshaped his worldview. He came to see decentralisation—not just in governance, but in business and society—as the key to resilience and long-term success. For Goldsmith, survival depended on adaptability. “If you have a sense of survival,” he argued, “you change your ideas when you’re wrong.” 

Main ideas

• Globalisation is a trap
• Localism over centralisation
• The EU is undemocratic
• Economic theory must be tested in reality for it to have any value
• Society should prioritise stability over efficiency
• Not all trade is good trade (Buffet import certs / tariffs)
• Agriculture is a vital component of sovereignty
• Sovereignty isn't isolationism