Three years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of our virtual transatlantic discussion series “Resilience and Adaptation” with 24 episodes covering a range of social, political, and economic implications, 1014 and the American Council on Germany are launching a new virtual discussion series to revisit some of the same themes and examine how much has (or has not) changed as the result of the pandemic. Which lessons have been learned? Have any changes proven to be sustainable?

Global supply chains suffered a major disruption as a result of the pandemic – which has been exacerbated with the war in Ukraine. Economic interdependence (in areas such as semi-conductors and more recently energy) has been called into question as there are calls for on-shoring and “friend-shoring” for critical sectors. With most factories and production back on-line at pre-pandemic levels, is global manufacturing back on track? What are the implications of the disruptions of recent years on trade?

1014 and the American Council on Germany hosted a virtual discussion with globalization experts Thorsten Benner, Co-Founder and Director of the Global Public Policy Institute; and Dr. Shannon O’Neil, Vice President, Deputy Director of Studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Thorsten Benner is co-founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. His areas of interest include the interplay of the US, Europe and non-Western powers in the making of global (dis)order, German and European policy vis-à-vis China and Asia-Pacific, peace and security as well as data and technology politics. Prior to co-founding GPPi in 2003, he worked with the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, the UNDevelopment Programme in New York, and the Global Public Policy Project in Washington, DC. His commentary has appeared in DIE ZEIT, International New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Handelsblatt, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, among others. His publications include The New World of UN Peace Operations: Learning to Build Peace? (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Critical Choices. The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance (Ottawa, 2000).

Dr. Shannon K. O'Neil is the vice president, deputy director of studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on global trade, supply chains, Mexico, Latin America, and democracy. Dr. O’Neil is the author of The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter (Yale University Press, October 2022), which chronicles the rise of three main global manufacturing and supply chain hubs and what they mean for U.S. economic competitiveness. She also wrote Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead (Oxford University Press, 2013), which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why they matter for the United States. She is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, and a frequent guest on national broadcast news and radio programs. Dr. O’Neil has often testified before Congress, and regularly speaks at global academic, business, and policy conferences.