How 2024 Elections Are Disrupting Global Supply Chains

Throughout global history, few years stand out as significantly as 2024, marked by an exceptional number of elections spanning across continents. With half of the world’s population slated to cast votes in at least 64 countries, ranging from regional economic powerhouses to some of the world’s biggest economies, including the United States, Mexico (just completed), India, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, the democratic process is set to unfold on an unprecedented scale. At the crux of this electoral anomaly lies a multitude of supply chain risks that threaten to disrupt global trade, commodity supplies, and cyberattacks.

In our comprehensive “Election Year Impact Report,” Everstream Analytics delves into the intricate web of challenges confronting supply chain professionals in this historic election year, offering insights and strategies to navigate the turbulent waters ahead.

Border tensions

Cross-border supply chains are crucial to global trade, but growing geopolitical tensions are casting a shadow over vital trade routes. In regions where two of the world’s busiest trade routes reside, like the Taiwan Strait and the U.S.-Mexico border, electoral outcomes have the potential to reshape existing trade dynamics, posing a challenge for businesses reliant on these critical supply chain networks.

Cross-border supply chains are crucial to global trade, but growing geopolitical tensions are casting a shadow over vital trade routes.

Taiwan's dominance in the global supply chain, particularly in the semiconductor industry, means that any disruptions can have cascading effects across the globe. With the country’s recent re-election of the Democratic People's Party, amid ongoing military and regulatory tensions with China, concerns are being raised about disruptions to the movement of trillions of dollars worth of goods.

Similarly, in response to the practice of companies nearshoring manufacturing away from China, Mexico has experienced a surge in exports to the U.S. However, migrant-related border disruptions fueled pre-election political tensions that are likely to have ramifications for cross-border trade between the United States and Mexico.

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