we are witnessing the end of an era of globalization.

That may turn out to be true.

But it's probably not the end of globalization that we're seeing.

It's the advent of a new era of globalization in which data flows are the new shipping containers.

Between 2008 and 2013, cross-border internet flows grew seven-fold.

And by 2025, they predict those cross-border flows

could be worth more than the current global trade in goods, or some 20 trillion dollars.

Much of that is obvious; it has to do with new technologies like smartphones,

but our cars are data emitters, too.

Drive a new Audi or BMW, and you'll find it's sending data back to engineers in Germany.

We live in an age where the global trade and some spare parts

just means sending an email file to a bank of 3D printers in a far off land.

Of course, that assumes that governments don't get in the way.

But we're already seeing the advent of digital protectionism.

China's "Great Firewall" is as much as about protecting global high-tech industries

and champions like Alibaba from international competition as it is about censorship.

Across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, governments are using privacy rules

to restrain data flows and requiring companies to keep local servers.

Research has shown digital protectionism can restrict a nation's GDP growth by up to 1.7 percentage points.

So the next major trade battle could well be over data localization.

Call it globalization 3.0 if you want, but a new era is definitely taking hold.