The Weaponization of Global Trade
Trade has long been viewed as a path to peace and prosperity. Today, it is increasingly used as a weapon. Economic interdependence — once celebrated — is now being freebet Naga169 turned into leverage in the age of sanctions, tariffs, and supply chain control.
The U.S. and China remain at the heart of this transformation. Washington’s export restrictions on semiconductors, aimed at curbing China’s technological rise, have triggered retaliatory measures from Beijing. The “de-risking” agenda in Europe mirrors this tension, as the EU seeks to balance commercial ties with strategic caution.
Sanctions are reshaping geopolitics. Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT banking system and Western oil embargoes have prompted Moscow to deepen economic ties with non-Western partners. Simultaneously, countries such as India and Brazil navigate these rivalries by emphasizing trade neutrality and diversification.
The result is a fragmented global economy divided into competing supply networks. Critical minerals, energy, and advanced technologies have become tools of influence — or coercion.
“The new trade war isn’t about tariffs; it’s about control,” says WTO economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “Whoever dominates the supply chain dominates the future.”
As globalization evolves into geoeconomics, trade is no longer the great equalizer it once was. It has become a battlefield where commerce and power collide.