Global Value Chain Development Report 2025: Rewiring GVCs in a Changing Global Economy
The Global Value Chain Development Report 2025 provides a timely and in-depth analysis of how global value chains (GVCs) are being reshaped by overlapping economic, technological, environmental, and geopolitical forces. Contrary to narratives of deglobalization, the report shows that GVCs remain resilient, accounting for over 46% of global trade, while undergoing significant reconfiguration to prioritize resilience, sustainability, and strategic security gvcreport2025_e.
A central theme of the report is “reglobalization”—a new phase of globalization characterized not by retreat, but by reorientation. Firms and governments are restructuring production networks through regionalization, nearshoring, digitalization, and green industrial strategies. These shifts are redefining where value is created and how economies participate in global trade.
The report highlights the emergence of new regional hubs, with particular attention to Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. While structural challenges persist—such as infrastructure gaps, logistics bottlenecks, and limited digital readiness—the report identifies growing opportunities linked to green investment, critical minerals, services trade, and supply chain diversification. Africa, in particular, is positioned to benefit from deeper integration into GVCs through value addition, regional integration, and targeted policy reforms.
Sectoral analysis places strong emphasis on automotive and electric vehicle (EV) value chains, showing how technological change and climate policies are reshaping production, trade, and carbon footprints. The report also explores how digital services, artificial intelligence, and data-driven trade are becoming central to value creation across industries.
On governance, the report documents a shift away from traditional multilateralism toward targeted trade deals and industrial policies that address frontier issues, such as carbon mitigation, critical raw materials, and digital trade. While these arrangements offer flexibility, the report emphasizes the importance of transparency, coordination, and inclusivity to prevent fragmentation and unequal outcomes.
Overall, the Global Value Chain Development Report 2025 underscores that the future of GVCs will be defined not by efficiency alone, but by how well economies balance resilience, sustainability, and inclusive development in a rapidly changing global economy