It was unthinkable mere years ago, but globalization is starting to lose momentum. High and holding fuel prices — shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the U.S. will cost ya $5,000 more today than a decade ago — are making global supply chains look far less attractive. Goods headed for the maw of the world’s largest consumer are now increasingly being made in-house: Swedish manufacturer IKEA just opened its first U.S. factory; Tesla Motors is assembling its luxury roadsters in California; China’s steel exports are falling rapidly, while American steel production is rising. Local-economy boosters are delighted, but many economists doubt that regionalization is right around the corner. “It would be a mistake, a misinterpretation, to think that a huge rollback or reversal of fundamental trends is under way,” says economist Jeffrey Sachs. “Distance and trade costs do matter, but we are still in a globalized era.”
