WISC Dialogues: Steven Altman on the 2026 DHL Globalization Tracker

NYU WISC Dialogues: Steven Altman on the 2026 DHL Globalization Report

In this WISC Dialogue, Mark Kennedy speaks with Steven Altman, Director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU Stern’s Center for the Future of Management, about the newly released 2026 DHL Globalization Tracker. Despite rising tariffs and geopolitical tensions, the report finds that global connectedness reached a record high in 2025, challenging the prevailing narrative that globalization is in retreat.

Their conversation explores how AI-related products are driving global trade growth, why declining U.S.–China economic ties have not led to a broader division of the world into rival trading blocs, and the growing role of countries that maintain economic relationships with both sides. Altman also examines whether efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on China are instead redirecting supply chains through third countries, and what these trends mean for economic security and international trade policy.