Journal Article
Friendshoring: Von Torheiten, Trugschlüssen und Tretminen
The emerging call in the western world for more "friendshoring" is aimed at aligning trade flows more closely with countries with similar political values in order to make supply chains more resilient. This would further fray the global trade order, which is already riddled with all kinds of exceptions and special rules. It remains unclear whether pro-friendshoring policies can be justified by a market failure, that would have to be based on a discrepancy between individual rationality (company level) and collective rationality (economic policy). In addition to a rather uncertain primary effect, considerable adverse side effects are also to be expected for the then more disintegrated “friendly” and “unfriendly” economic blocs. Overall, skepticism towards the idea of friendshoring is appropriate, which can be summarized in ten theses.
Key Words
- Free trade
- friendshoring
- resilience
- supply chains
- trade conflicts
- bloc formation