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Thread/This is how globalization will unwind. Trump administration runs nationalist economic agenda over global economic networks. Not only imposing export bans but manipulating global supply chains. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/03/white-house-scrambles-scoop-up-medical-supplies-angering-canada-germany/
2/As @henryfarrell and I have warned, many countries have responded to the coronavirus by imposing reverse protectionism i.e. export bans of critical supplies. https://hbr.org/2020/03/will-governments-restrict-foreign-access-to-pandemic-supplies
3/Over the last weeks, the Trump administration has not only resorted to these strategies but also outbid or diverted shipments for key medical supplies. The most spectacular case involves Germany.
4/A shipment of 3M masks manufactured in China destined for Berlin was diverted in Thailand by the US. It is unclear under what exact authority the US did this but German officials warn that the US is basically acting as economic pirates. https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/usa-haben-wohl-200-000-schutzmasken-abgefangen-berlins-innensenator-spricht-von-moderner-piraterie/25712976.html
5/The US administration has targeted not only 3M US production but is global supply system, playing out a variant of what @henryfarrell have described as weaponized interdependence. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/isec_a_00351
6/Not only does this have ramifications for interstate relations like the transatlantic alliance but generate new political risk for firms. See 3M's response on how US policy threatens its trade w/Canada as well as raising a humanitarian dilemma. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/3m-says-trump-halting-mask-exports-to-canada-has-significant-humanitarian-implications-1.4881032
7/Several US policy makers see this strategy as an opportunity to restructure supply chains globally. https://www.ft.com/content/d71c01db-5333-470b-abcd-0df126864447
8/But given the reality of manufacturing concentration in global supply chains, particularly health care supply chains, the US will likely face retaliation. The ultimate result could be a type of sicken-thy-neighbor spiral. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28636443
9/Pandemics are global public goods problems. Running a nationalist strategy over global networks will undermine the global response and also generate tremendous suspicion and uncertainty around the global economic networks that underpin globalization. https://hbr.org/2020/03/will-governments-restrict-foreign-access-to-pandemic-supplies
