Globalisation is slowing down

Whether this could be called deglobalisation or regionalisation is up for debate. But frictions between trading blocks have grown with higher tariffs and other measures aimed at boosting national industries. This is both about power struggles and technology.

Some say there is now an increasing trend of bringing jobs back which had previously been moved to low-wage countries. The wage differences are no longer that big. For many businesses, it is a greater advantage to have production closer to customers.

We have spoken to Martin Grauers, CEO of the Swedish part of Danx, a logistics company for time-critical transport, mainly of spare parts for IT and automotive companies. He points to several reasons for why reshoring has become more popular. 

Robots and artificial intelligence are important factors. If production is automated, companies want to keep it local to remain in control. Local production also has the benefit of allowing companies to secure sustainability throughout the production process.

“This makes it easier to control the entire chain to see whether it is sustainable. It also makes it easier to assess and measure whether for instance steel or other energy-intensive raw materials have been manufactured with clean electricity or dirty coal power.”

Another driving force is the increased uncertainty about whether you can import strategic goods in a changed geopolitical climate.

“The previous global paradigm is fading. The era of rapid world trade growth looks to have passed, with EU companies facing both greater competition from abroad and lower access to overseas markets. 

“Europe has abruptly lost its most important supplier of energy, Russia. All the while, geopolitical stability is waning, and our dependencies have turned out to be vulnerabilities,” said the former Italian Prime Minister and central bank head Mario Draghi when he presented his report on EU competitiveness.

But in societies and industries that for decades have worked according to the just-in-time principle – where parts reach production exactly when they are needed without the need for storing them – it is hard to know what to prioritise. Are computer chips or food more important? Health care equipment or weapons?

Everyone seems to agree that access to rare earth minerals should be secured. These are used in the production of smartphones, EVs and wind turbines. 

In Norway, the mining company Rare Earths Norway (REN) called a press conference in June to talk about a crucial find in what is known as the Fen Complex in Telemark. 

“We can document that this is Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth elements – with a good margin,” said chief geologist at Trond. 

There is currently no extraction of rare earth minerals in Europe. The EU’s goal is that at least ten per cent of the minerals and metals the Union needs will be produced in the EU or Western partner countries by 2030.

Yet to manage the green transition and ensure national security, you need skills as well as raw materials. 

Norway has been witnessing a trend where the number of Norwegians studying abroad and the number of foreign students coming to Norway has fallen radically after the country introduced fees for some foreign students.

“It is naive to think that Norway can find the solutions to the great global challenges without an international network, and without Norwegians spending time abroad gathering knowledge from around the world,” says Øyvind Bryhn Pettersen, President of the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad ANSA.

In Greenland, authorities are hoping a new airport due to open in November will help attract foreign labour. Until now, the capital Nuuk has not had an airport capable of receiving larger aircraft.

“Being able to fly non-stop to Nuuk will open up Greenland to the wider world in a completely new way. Tourism will be further boosted and it will also make it easier to transport Greenlandic fish to our export markets,” says Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish Parliament for Greenland’s ruling left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party, IA. 

Finland has taken a leading role in the Nordic in the fight against work-related crime. This will also be a priority when Finland takes over the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2025. 

A new phenomenon has emerged, where posted workers increasingly come from non-EU countries. Countries like Estonia and Lithuania used to have a labour surplus, but this has fallen as their economies and wage levels have improved.

This initially led staffing agencies to source workers from Ukraine, but since the 2022 war, workers have been brought in from countries even further afield.

A “fast lane” has been created where many of the stationed workers in Finland have never lived in the Baltics, but simply had a stop-over in some Baltic city to secure the necessary paperwork. 

In Sweden, the Club Heartbeat strip club has gone to court to allow their employees to do night work between midnight and 5 am. According to the Working Hours Act, all workers have the right to enough rest in that period and the Swedish Work Environment Agency sees no reason for the club to be exempt.

Now, the strippers have set up a new trade union, and the club owner has entered into what is being described as a collective agreement. It is possible to negotiate for night shifts. But the Work Environment Authority refuses to approve the agreement and the issue will now be settled in court. 

This might seem like a fringe issue, but the court’s decision could have repercussions for the entire labour market. 

Finally, we report from Iceland where the government has called for fresh elections on 30 November. The current coalition has been made up of parties from the furthest on the right to the furthest to the left, but after Katrín Jakobsdóttir stepped down as Prime Minister, the ideological differences have grown.