Short-Circuiting Technological Sovereignty? Assessing the Governance of Semiconductor Supply Chain (Chokepoints) Through the Lens of Emerging Multilateral Export Control Regimes

Against the background of increasing unilateral and extraterritorial imposition of export controls on advanced semiconductors, proposals have been made for a “multilateral export control regime” (MECR) on critical and emerging technologies. Proposals range from sector-based “mini-regimes” to broad economic and technological security frameworks. Since such regimes are predicated on the protection and promotion of (a bloc of) states’ economic and technological security, i.e. competitiveness, they could be fundamentally at odds with states’ obligations under the WTO framework. Given that such MECRs would go against the grain of the WTO ethos of trade liberalisation, elimination of barriers, and virtue of economic interconnectedness, such emerging MECRs on critical technologies should be viewed as part of the narrative of “re-globalisation.” They could be understood as a mode of governance over global supply chains with the aim of reconfiguring the sinews of economic interdependence and dynamics of market competition to guarantee that the supply of the most critical technologies for our digital society remain within the control of “the West” and “like-minded” partners.