World Economic Forum warns of new competitiveness dynamics as US reshapes supply chains

The World Economic Forum’s latest study says that the drivers of national competitiveness are shifting from pure efficiency and low‑cost production toward resilience, innovation capacity and strategic adaptability. It highlights four forces – geopolitics, regulation, technology and talent – as shaping the competitive landscape to 2030, noting rising trade‑policy discrimination, higher public‑debt risks and a concentration of R&D in a handful of economies.

In the United States, policy moves are accelerating a large‑scale re‑ordering of global supply chains. High‑value sectors such as AI, advanced chips and biotech are being reshored, while mid‑tier manufacturing is moving to Mexico under near‑shoring agreements. The U.S. is also encouraging “friend‑shoring” with allies like Vietnam and India and implementing targeted decoupling from China in sensitive technologies. These changes are expected to lift inflation, keep interest rates higher for longer and reshape sectoral profit flows. Financial advisers suggest investors tilt toward automation, clean‑energy infrastructure, defense, real‑estate in emerging U.S. industrial hubs and hard assets such as inflation‑linked bonds and gold.

Both reports underline that the emerging economic order will be defined by how countries and companies balance openness with security, and how they adapt to a more fragmented, geopolitically driven world.