
All hail international supply chain managers, the heroes of the world economy. The resilience of the value networks they guard and nurture has done a splendid job of defying widespread defeatism about globalisation these past few years. The world trading system in goods has manifestly failed to collapse; global growth has recovered.
The pandemic forced lockdowns that kept consumers and retail workers at home, and Covid-19, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea interrupted production and snarled up shipping. And, of course, rising trade and geopolitical tensions have induced friction via tariffs and export restrictions, especially from the US.