On 14th January 2021, the European Chamber, in partnership with MERICS, released a major report, Decoupling: Severed Ties and Patchwork Globalisation, which measures the costs of decoupling for businesses operating in China. In this podcast, Jörg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and Mikko Huotari, MERICS Executive Director, introduce the main findings of the report.
The report finds that while the trade war has largely failed in its goal of forcing firms back to their home countries, the technology war is inflicting real damage on companies and economies alike. With decoupling dynamics showing no signs of reversing, solutions are quickly needed to deal with this new reality of ‘patchwork globalisation’.
The present and future costs of decoupling for European businesses operating in China are examined across nine ‘layers’ in the report:
- political and financial (macro);
- supply chains and critical inputs (trade);
- standards and R&D (innovation); and
- data, network equipment and telecommunications services (digital).
Please click here to download the report.