Chokepoints : How Economic Warfare is Changing the World - FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED

A compelling and alarming examination of how the US has weaponised the international economy, Chokepoints explores the incalculable effect that decisions over tariffs, sanctions and more have had across the globe.

If you want to understand what’s happening to the world economy, start right here.

It used to take blockades and sieges to ravage a rival’s economy. Now, a single statement posted online by the US government can bring a nation to its knees.

Chokepoints is a gripping behind-the-scenes account of one of the most pivotal geopolitical shifts of our time. Drawing on extensive research, personal experience and interviews with key players, Edward Fishman, a former top US State Department official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power around the world. He reveals how sanctions, tariffs and control over modern-day chokepoints – such as the US dollar, advanced microchip technology and critical energy supply chains – have become the primary weapons of twenty-first-century geopolitics.

This is the epic story of how America turned economics into a weapon – and how China, Europe and Britain are now doing the same. Urgent and brimming with rare insight, Chokepoints is the definitive guide to the Age of Economic Warfare.

MEDIA REVIEWS

‘A sharp tour of geoeconomic power.’ Bloomberg, Books of the Year 2025 'Immensely readable ... it could not be timelier.' NPR Best Books of 2025 'A well-timed and meticulously researched account of how and why the US has increasingly turned to sanctions and economic warfare as an instrument of statecraft.’ Financial Times, Best Books of 2025

‘Chokepoints is a masterful narrative of US economic warfare in the 21st century.’ Financial Times ‘A timely, riveting world tour … absorbing’ The Economist

‘A gripping, firsthand account of America’s efforts to weaponize the world economy against its resurgent adversaries. From the U.S. campaign to curtail Iran’s nuclear program to today’s cutting-edge effort to stop China from accessing AI chips, Chokepoints is an unparalleled guide to America’s use of sanctions and export controls over recent decades. Essential reading for understanding the new age of economic warfare.’ Chris Miller, author of Chip War

 ‘Remarkable...One of the most important books on economic warfare ever written.’ Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers