For nearly three decades, the world was told a seductive story: borders would matter less, trade would make wars obsolete, supply chains would connect humanity, and economic interdependence would create stability. Factories shifted to Asia, consumers in the West enjoyed cheap products, corporations maximised profits through global outsourcing, and economists celebrated the age of hyper-globalisation as the inevitable destiny of mankind. Yet somewhere between trade wars, pandemics, sanctions, chip restrictions, shipping disruptions, and rising nationalism, that world quietly began to die.

No leader formally declared the end of globalisation. No international summit announced its funeral. Instead, the signs emerged gradually through tariffs, export controls, sanctions, industrial subsidies, visa restrictions, and economic weaponisation. The world did not abandon globalisation overnight; it simply started making it more expensive, more political, and far less trustworthy.

As of May 2026, the global economy is no longer operating on pure free-market logic. It is increasingly operating on strategic paranoia.

The United States and China remain deeply economically interconnected, yet simultaneously locked in the most significant geopolitical and technological rivalry since the Cold War. Washington continues tightening restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports, AI chips, and sensitive technologies to China, while Beijing accelerates efforts toward technological self-sufficiency. What once would have been considered normal trade competition has evolved into full-spectrum economic containment. Chips are now treated like strategic weapons. Data centres are becoming geopolitical assets. Artificial intelligence has entered the national security domain.

Governments increasingly prefer supply chains located within politically aligned countries rather than merely cost-efficient locations.

Governments increasingly prefer supply chains located within politically aligned countries rather than merely cost-efficient locations.

The semiconductor war alone reveals how dramatically the world has changed. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, once merely a commercial giant, now sits at the centre of global strategic calculations. Nations are no longer discussing only oil security or military alliances; they are discussing access to computing power, rare earth minerals, battery supply chains, and AI infrastructure. The new geopolitical map is increasingly shaped by whoever controls data, energy, logistics, and advanced manufacturing.

Meanwhile, Europe finds itself trapped between economic necessity and strategic dependence. The Russia-Ukraine conflict fundamentally........

© Daily Times