The heated debate over when to restart the U.S. economy has obscured an issue that may prove just as thorny: How to do it. The economy is a complex web of supply chains whose dynamics don’t necessarily align neatly with epidemiologists’ recommendations.
Since World War II, the idea that global trade enhances security and prosperity has driven most major economies. When people exchange goods across borders, the logic goes, they gain better and cheaper products and become less likely to take up arms.