INTERVIEW: Japan Biz Looking Abroad amid Supply Chain Rewiring

By Hiroki Shimoo

Tokyo, June 3 (Jiji Press)--With global supply chains adjusting to changing geopolitics and the artificial intelligence boom, Japanese businesses will continue to seek investment opportunities abroad as they become more globally relevant due to their competitiveness, a senior official at U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc. says.

"There's a little bit of a reconfiguration of the global economy," Marc Luet, managing director and head of Japan, Asia North and Australia, and Banking at Citi, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. "But there's no retreat of globalization. It's just that supply chains might become more complicated and more regionally distributed."

A report drawn up by the group in February showed a multipolar global trade landscape where cross-border goods flows were growing overall between major regions, with companies apparently reorganizing supply chains amid heightened geopolitical tensions, including the U.S.-China tariff dispute.

According to the report, goods exports from North and East Asia, including Japan and China, to South Asia and the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 44 pct over about five years to 2024. Meanwhile, South Asia and ASEAN saw a 50 pct increase in shipments to North America. In addition, the United States diversified its import base to reduce dependence on a single region.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]