Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
With the world accelerating its pace to enter the age of geo-economics, economic efficiency that once underpinned globalisation is giving way to security-centered policy considerations.
In recent years, the restructuring of the global economic and trading system has given rise to competition in critical sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, critical minerals and energy supply, as well as the frequent use of policy tools such as export controls and investment screening.
According to the Global Trade Alert, a trade policy monitoring initiative, the number of new trade restrictions hit record highs between 2023 and 2025, reversing decades of gradual liberalisation. In the first 10 months of 2025 alone, more than 2,500 trade-restrictive measures were imposed worldwide. Since the beginning of this year, rising security risks along key routes, including the Arctic shipping routes, the Panama Canal and the Strait of Hormuz, have disrupted global supply chains.
These developments point to a clear trend: countries are increasingly using economic tools as instruments of competition. Economic security now carries greater weight in policymaking, often at the expense of efficiency. Some nations have even sought to strengthen their competitive edge by restricting access to critical inputs or transport routes. This marks a defining feature of the geo-economic era, a sharp departure from the earlier model of globalisation built on cost optimisation and the international division of labour.
