If you pay attention to the leftist thinkers/economists/commentators you will already know this to be the case but it is pretty significant that someone like him acknowledges this publicly.
Is this the beginning of the end of a period of Western empire which began with the very first colonies over 300 years ago?
Also, if you aren’t used to reading financial news, him mentioning it at all is essentially screaming in your ear that globalization is going into reverse.
The very first slave colonies were actually built by Columbus himself, so 500 years would be more accurate.