“Deglobalization” has entered the narrative zeitgeist. But what’s happening on the ground? This weekly series seeks to answer that question with a round-up of deglobalization developments from the week that’s done.

1. Volkswagen is building a $14 billion battery plant for electric vehicles in Canada, slated to open in 2027. It will be the first of its kind in Canada. “With this historic project, we’re not just bringing back manufacturing, we’re bringing back a strong, thriving economy for this community” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a press conference. “We’re delivering a national anchor for Canada’s EV supply chain.”

2. American capital is souring on China: The University of Chicago, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and other major US endowments and foundations have indicated to Chinese fund managers and others that they are halting investments in the country.

3. And: As that souring goes mainstream, global fund managers say that they are rushing to meet client demand for new Asian investment products.

4. Bunzl, a UK distributor of products that range from plastic spoons to PPE, is “de-risking” its supply chain by shifting some of its sourcing from China and toward countries including Mexico, India, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

5. In the last months, Alphabet, OpenAI, and Microsoft have all restricted access to their AI chatbots in Hong Kong – likely out of concern that the chatbots produce content that violate China’s national security law.

6. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law last month that restricts investment by entities associated with “countries of concern,” namely Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela. The law applies to all entities from those countries, including private companies and individuals.

7. Global supply chain verification firm Ultra Information Systems has found that the online shopping platform Temu is selling products made in China’s western province of Xinjiang to US consumers.

8. Italy’s privacy watchdog is investigating whether Chinese authorities use TikTok to spy on Italian and European Union users. The investigation comes after a former ByteDance employee testified in a sworn statement that the CCP targeted pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong by using “backdoor” access to TikTok.

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