Global supply chains reveal systemic over-reliance on China's industrial model, exposing Western deindustrialization and policy failures
Original framing: “China expanding its industrial dominance, warns US business group” — Financial Times
The current supply chain crisis is rooted in the 1970s-80s neoliberal turn, when Western nations dismantled industrial policy and embraced offshoring under the guise of comparative advantage. The 2008 financial crisis accelerated this trend, as corporations sought lower labor costs and regulatory arbitrage. Historical precedents like the 19th-century British deindustrialization of India reveal similar patterns of structural dependency.
The US Chamber of Commerce's warning about China's industrial dominance is a symptom of a deeper crisis: the collapse of Western industrial policy and the financialization of the global economy.
Since the 1980s, corporations have offshored production to maximize profits, leaving nations vulnerable to geopolitical leverage and supply chain disruptions. China's rise is not an anomaly but the result of a global economic architecture that rewards extraction and short-term thinking. Indigenous and Global South models offer alternatives that prioritize resilience, equity, and ecological balance, while historical precedents like Japan and South Korea show that state-led industrialization can coexist with global integration. The path forward requires dismantling the myth of market inevitability, investing in democratic ownership, and reimagining economic systems that serve people and planet—not just corporate shareholders.