‘Onshoring’ Is So Last Year. The New Lingo Is ‘Friend-Shoring’
The Biden administration recognizes that the U.S. can’t go it alone.
As the U.S. struggles with how to balance the economic priorities of national security and low costs, the favored terminology keeps shifting. First there was “offshoring”—transferring production abroad to save money. Then there was “onshoring” or “reshoring”—bringing production back home to reduce the potential for disruption of supply chains. The latest lingo is “friend-shoring” or “ally-shoring,” which is similar to reshoring except that it’s not restricted to domestic production. Reliable friends and allies are also deemed OK as sources.
The new, more inclusive terminology is only a year or so old. Last year, Elaine Dezenski and John Austin wrote an article for Newsweek that credited Bonnie Glick, who served in 2019-20 as deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, with privately using the term “allied-shoring.” (Glick seemed to endorse their attribution by tweeting out the article.)