Map of the New Fragmented Economy

The unified global economy has disappeared as a space of common rules and has been replaced by large zones governed by incompatible systems. Trade, technology, financing, and payment infrastructures now operate through strategic filters rather than free access. Investors and companies function within different systems of constraints depending on the economic bloc they enter.

This Serial Dossier maps the architecture of the new international economic order.

The Serial Dossier - "Analysis of Economic Blocs” - is addressed to the specialized readership of Ziarul BURSA, whether investors, managers, or administrative and political decision-makers, without excluding those who wish to specialize and are willing to engage with literature (sometimes legal or numerical, tabular) based on primary sources.

The series does not propose a theoretical thesis, but rather describes operational mechanisms, agreements in force, functional infrastructures, and economic protection instruments already being applied. The analysis uses treaties, regulations, and public institutional data to illustrate the reality of 2026.

The starting point is observable: major powers have shifted their focus from opening markets to controlling dependencies. Supply chains, critical technologies, raw materials, and international payments are placed under economic security regimes. Access becomes conditional, and strategic compatibility becomes the primary economic criterion.

The series examines the major economic blocs that structure this stage:

The North American bloc (USMCA) - organized through regional content rules and protected industrial integration;

The European space - reconfigured through the green geoeconomic shield (CBAM) and trade defense instruments;

The Asia-Pacific architecture (RCEP, CPTPP, IPEF) - with overlapping memberships and variable geometry between trade volume, standards, and security (two episodes);

The BRICS+ grouping - as an alternative financial pole and parallel payment infrastructure (two episodes);

Technology control regimes - and the definitive separation of semiconductor and AI ecosystems;

The Gulf bloc (GCC) - and the role of sovereign wealth funds in financing the new global architecture;

The African bloc (AfCFTA) - the new frontier of strategic integration, marked by demographic growth and independent payment systems (PAPSS).

The analysis highlights the four major fault lines of the present: commercial, technological, financial, and demographic. Each episode addresses a bloc or an infrastructure, describing the legal framework, the economic instruments, and the measurable effects on the cost of capital and resilience inflation.

The practical stake is direct. Investment returns, financing costs, supply chain stability, and access to technology depend on bloc affiliation and the ability to navigate between divergent payment systems. Risk assessment can no longer ignore the geoeconomic architecture.

Readers of this dossier receive a working map showing who produces with whom, who finances whom, who controls technology, and who owns primary resources. On this map - adapted also for Romania's opportunities and risks - future investment decisions and commercial strategies for a fragmented world can be placed.