Is the WTO right about friends-first trade?

FIGURES released in July this year revealed that world trade volumes have fallen at their fastest annual pace since the pandemic three years ago. The latest annual report from the World Trade Organization posits that geopolitical tensions are changing trade flows as countries switch supply chains to allies rather than the most cost-efficient exporter.

It believes the post-1945 international economic order – that was built on the idea that interdependence among nations through increased trade and economic ties would foster peace and shared prosperity – is under threat today, as is the future of an open global economy.

Indeed, sharp inflection points and shocks in geopolitics continue to arise. First and foremost, the current multiple conflicts around the world are devastating at a human level. But they also put globalisation under renewed scrutiny and, at a company level, move resilience to the very top of the leadership team’s strategic agenda.