The COVID-19 pandemic has brought economies around the world to an abrupt halt and highlighted the fragility of existing global value chains. But demolishing these key drivers of international trade and investment would only make a bad situation worse.
WASHINGTON, DC – Most international trade and investment occurs in networks which divide production into discrete steps that can be carried out in different countries. Firms exchange inputs and outputs in cross-border value chains, some of great complexity. These value chains – whether intra-firm or inter-firm, regional or global – accounted for more than two-thirds of world trade in 2017 and an astonishing 80% in some manufacturing industries.
WASHINGTON, DC – Most international trade and investment occurs in networks which divide production into discrete steps that can be carried out in different countries. Firms exchange inputs and outputs in cross-border value chains, some of great complexity. These value chains – whether intra-firm or inter-firm, regional or global – accounted for more than two-thirds of world trade in 2017 and an astonishing 80% in some manufacturing industries.