How far can this process of deglobalisation – decoupling, reshoring, call it what you will – go before it ends in a truly fragmented world economy? Or can the process be reversed by political change in major economies?
According to speakers at a recent gathering of senior international officials in Singapore, things could get much worse before they get better – and even then it could be only after a conflagration or an economic slump. Hardly a comforting prospect.
The meeting, organised by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, focused on “reconstructing ties in a fragmenting world”. Speakers included Zhang Xiangcheng, deputy director general of the World Trade Organization.
Zhang said that the WTO has done a study of the likely impact of fragmentation of global supply chains for hi-tech goods such as semiconductors….
