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Professor Janet Gao
Lapeyre Family Associate Professor in Finance
McDonough School of Business
Georgetown University

This study investigates how U.S. firms respond to geopolitical tensions by reorganizing their global supply chains and how CEO partisanship shapes such responses. Firms reduce import from foreign countries with diverging ideologies from the U.S., more so by firms whose CEOs are politically aligned with the U.S. administration. Following foreign elections that increase ideological distances, aligned CEOs cut imports from election countries by 40% more than misaligned ones. Potential mechanisms include aligned CEOs having heightened concerns for geopolitical risk and national security, and demonstrating support for the administration. These politically driven import decisions significantly reduce firm value and performance.