Ito Sayuri, Executive Director, Economic Research Department, NLI Research Institute Since the end of the Cold War, supply chains have expanded globally, and there are concerns about fragmentation due to multiple factors, including the escalating conflict between the United States and China, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the climate crisis. At the G7 Hiroshima Summit in 2023, de-coupling was rejected as an approach to economic resilience and economic security, and a policy based on de-risking was affirmed. Friendshoring, the formation of supply chains among allied or like-minded countries; nearshoring, the relocation of business to neighboring countries; and reshoring and onshoring, the return of business to a country, became buzzwords to indicate the direction of restructuring supply chains. Changes are already visible in global trade data. In 2023, the amount of trade between the United States, the European Union and ... ... [Read more]