After several decades of rising globalisation and the world becoming increasingly interconnected, that trend plateaued in the post-financial crisis period – and there are signs of it going into reverse.
Whether we call this de-globalisation, or borrow the International Monetary Fund’s ‘slowbalisation’ term, the pandemic has clearly laid bare a shifting backdrop for global trade. This paper examines three core factors − geopolitical fragmentation, the need for supply chain resilience and competition for scarce resources – that are driving this de-globalisation through four channels: production and trade, foreign investment, financial friction and technological restrictions.
