Decoupling from China would cost the West $23.6tn

https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/05/china-industrial-climb-commercialisation-not-subsidies.avif

Cutting the West’s reliance on China would carry a staggering price. A new study puts the cost of decoupling from China at $23.6tn over 25 years, and warns the bill would land hardest on the industries building Europe’s tech future.

The West has spent three years talking about reducing its dependence on China. A new study tries to price it. According to an exclusive report in the Financial Times, the consultancy EY-Parthenon estimates that the US, the eurozone and the UK would need to invest an extra $23.6tn over 25 years to end their reliance on China in critical industries.

That figure covers manufacturing, technology, research, software and the supply chains beneath them. The wider effort to cut dependence on Chinese chips and rare earths has been building across Western capitals for months.

The burden is split unevenly.

The analysis puts the US bill at $13.7tn, the eurozone’s at...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to thenextweb.com. To see the full text click HERE

Read more