Peter Zeihan: Say Goodbye to the World’s Trade Routes

October 6, 2025

It’s always lovely when everything you’ve talked about throughout your career decides to happen all at once. At this critical decade, how will the globes trade routes fare? And which routes will fracture first?

There are three major trade routes that come to mind. Southeast Asia is made up of many regional states that rely upon each other, so none of them want this to shut down. While this should hold, there are some other players (China, Japan, and India) that could add some tension. The Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz are easy to disrupt and will likely be the first to go; this will have an outsized impact on places like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, that rely on oil coming through here. And the last route to keep an eye on is the Baltic Sea; the Ukraine War’s outcome will likely determine what happens here.

Bottom line…get your s*** while you still can.

Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical strategist, which is a fancy way of saying he helps people understand how the world works. He combines an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security to help clients best prepare for an uncertain future.

Peter is also a New York Times best-selling author whose first three books — The Accidental Superpower, The Absent Superpower and Disunited Nations — have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria, and Ian Bremmer. Peter’s fourth book, The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, was published in June 2022 and was a New York Times bestseller.

With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrow’s headlines, his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types. Contact WWSG to host Peter Zeihan.