Published Paper Details:

Global supply chains have become the new battlefield in a world of geopolitical contention, technological competition, and shifting trade links. This paper studies the shift from a deep globalization period of integrated production networks and soaring trade growth to progressive fragmentation under growing protectionism, geopolitical rivalries, and disruptive crises. It investigates how trade policy instruments like tariffs and export controls are being used with growing frequency to create strategic dependencies and decouple from enemy economies. Case studies, such as the U.S.-China trade war and pandemic-driven disruptions, highlight vulnerabilities of hyper-globalized systems. Novel approaches such as friend-shoring and resilience are considered, as countries look to achieve a tradeoff between efficiency and security requirements. Above all, the analysis is unambiguous: the reorganization of global supply chains signals wider economic seismic shifts that are driving immediate reform throughout the world. The results also add to the nascent policy discussions and lay groundwork for additional research.