Geoeconomic confrontation world's top threat, global leaders say

"Saadia Zahidi managing director of the WEF annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, which is due to start next week cited rising tariffs, checks on foreign investment and tighter supply controls on resources like critical minerals as examples of geoeconomic confrontation. [It is] when economic policy tools become essentially weaponry rather than a basis of cooperation, she said at an online news conference."

"While the report did not name specific countries, the category's rise from ninth in last year's report to the top spot reflects a year marked by renewed trade wars between rival powers sparked as the administration of President Donald Trump in the United States imposed aggressive tariffs on trading partners. The report said the risk of geoeconomic confrontation is rising as the world enters a new age of competition with economic tools increasingly weaponised as extensions of geopolitical strategy amid a broader retreat from multilateralism."

Geoeconomic confrontation has emerged as the leading short-term global risk, with states using trade, investment, sanctions and industrial policy as strategic weapons. Eighteen percent of decision-makers identified such confrontation as the most likely trigger of a global crisis within two years. Examples include rising tariffs, stricter foreign investment screening and tighter controls on critical minerals and other supply chains. The rise reflects renewed trade wars, more protectionist industrial policies and a retreat from multilateral cooperation. Economic tools are increasingly being weaponised as extensions of geopolitical strategy, intensifying competition and prompting active government influence over critical supply chains.

Read at www.aljazeera.com