A ferry leaving the Tanger Med port, the busiest in Africa.
Photographer: Imane Djamil for Bloomberg Markets
War, AI and Climate Change Shake Up $32 Trillion in Global Trade
From Morocco to Mexico, what this new world is starting to look like on the ground.
In Morocco trucks from a Connecticut logistics company ferry car parts and clothing across the Strait of Gibraltar. In Japan a new semiconductor plant transforms a once-quiet farm town. In France a battery plant’s staff learns to supervise new colleagues: robots.
These moments, which might seem unrelated, represent a transformation in world trade. US-China tensions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are leading companies to bring supply chains closer to home. A shift from fossil fuels is spurring demand for materials essential for electrification. Artificial intelligence is forcing employees to learn new skills so they won’t be replaced by computers. Long before these trends are reflected in government data, they’re already changing global commerce, which amounts to $32 trillion a year in goods and services, according to the World Trade Organization. Bloomberg Markets dispatched reporters to discover what this upheaval looks like on the ground.