Geopolitical Risk

I used to think that US sanctions were reserved for criminals, dictators and Russians. Well, a few months ago, an ICC judge authorised an investigation into alleged war crimes by US personnel in Afghanistan. Then she was sanctioned. Her bank access was frozen. Amazon and Microsoft shut down her accounts. She was treated like an international criminal.

If that wasn’t a wake-up call for all working with the USA, this January should have been.

With Trump openly threatening tariffs and economic retaliation against anyone opposing the US takeover of Greenland, what should hardware businesses do?

You do not want to discover mid-factory build that your supply chain is suddenly blocked or prohibitively expensive. Contracts, suppliers, banking access, and digital infrastructure can be switched off overnight, and you don’t have to do anything wrong.

I would go as far as saying this: the US is becoming uninvestable and uncontractable for long-cycle hardware projects.

The idea of a neutral, rules-based global business environment is gone. Has your business or project been hit by geopolitics lately?