By “fragmentation,” they are referring to a breakdown of the kind of free-wheeling, border-crossing trade and investment that’s defined the global economic order over the past three decades. It is a form of deglobalization — rebuilding fences around national or regional fiefdoms.
“Fragmentation is the sense that we may be having economies protect themselves a little more domestically, and that could slow things down,” Josh Lipsky, director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, told me. “And then it may make things more expensive in return.”
It’s not a new issue, of course — supply-chain upheaval was turbocharged by the start of the pandemic more than two years ago — but the war in Ukraine, growing political divides and lingering trade disputes are renewing concerns about a return to an era of isolation.
“The choices of both business and government are expected to lead to greater fragmentation in the global economy and…
