Follow the Money: Finance and the Future of Allied Economic Statecraft

The primary battlefield for great-power competition is shifting to the global flow of money, making the ability to direct capital into critical industries the new instrument of statecraft. Governments are developing a new toolkit that uses investment vehicles and policy incentives to align private capital with national security priorities in defense, manufacturing, and technology. The generative AI boom powerfully illustrates this, as leadership depends on financing the vast physical infrastructure, like power and data centers, that new technologies require. To compete effectively, the U.S. and its allies are creating new financial platforms and must mobilize their entire capital stack—from venture funds to massive pension systems—to build secure industrial capacity within trusted economic networks.