TITLE:
Trade Wars and Their Strategic Implications for Multinational Firms
AUTHORS:
Shankar Subramanian Iyer, Brinitha Raji
KEYWORDS:
Trade Wars, Multinational Firms, Supply Chain Resilience, Geopolitical Risk, FDI Redirection, Dynamic Capabilities, Techno-Geopolitical Uncertainty, Strategic Adaptation, Tariffs, Reshoring
JOURNAL NAME:
Voice of the Publisher,
Vol.12 No.2,
June
15,
2026
ABSTRACT: The resurgence of trade protectionism since 2018, epitomised by the United States-China trade war and its cascading global effects, has fundamentally disrupted the operational logic of multinational firms (MNCs) that for decades organised their value chains around the assumptions of liberal, rules-based trade. This article develops a qualitative, theory-driven analysis of the strategic implications of contemporary trade wars for MNCs, drawing on an integrative review of scholarly literature published between 2022 and 2026. Anchored in the theoretical intersection of Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), and the emerging Techno-Geopolitical Uncertainty (TGU) framework, the study employs systematic thematic analysis across six strategic domains: 1) tariff impacts and cost restructuring, 2) supply chain reconfiguration, 3) foreign direct investment (FDI) redirection and reshoring, 4) market diversification strategies, 5) geopolitical risk management, and 6) organisational adaptation and innovation. Findings reveal that trade wars do not uniformly disadvantage MNCs; rather, they create a bifurcated landscape in which strategically agile firms leverage protectionist disruption as a catalyst for structural transformation, while inertia-bound firms face compounding cost pressures and competitive erosion. The study contributes to international business theory by synthesising geo-strategy, resilience, and dynamic capability constructs into a unified Strategic Response Framework (SRF) for the era of weaponised interdependence. Implications for managers and policymakers are discussed, and an agenda for future research is proposed. This article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the strategic implications of trade wars for multinational firms. The review follows a structured search, screening, and thematic-synthesis protocol—consistent with established SLR guidelines (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006)—and is labelled as such throughout the Abstract, Introduction, and Methodology sections.