War, AI and climate change shake up $32 trillion in global trade
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 Organisation. Bloomberg Markets dispatched reporters to discover what this upheaval looks like on the ground.Local trade routes are stretched thinOn a good day, Shelby Alamillo crosses the Rio Grande eight times.
He drives along the World Trade Bridge, whose eight lanes of dusty roadway connect Mexico’s industrial heartland and South Texas. A trucker for a company called Super Transporte Internacional SA de CV, Alamillo, 39, is hauling—or, as he says, moving—auto parts to and from the US and Mexico. “It’s very impressive, all the trailers that cross per day,” he says.
“The first move that I made, wow, I was in shock.” Port Laredo, as it’s called, includes an airport, one rail and four vehicle bridges. No other US land, sea or air crossing has been handling a higher dollar value of goods each day. Avocados, furniture and cars make their way north from Mexico.
Auto parts, corn and gasoline head south from the US. For now, Alamillo says, traversing the bridge can take as little as 10 minutes, though about once a week, he runs into backups of three to four hours. The Texas Department of Transportation predicts that by 2050 its average crossing time
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