Geoeconomic bridging node in global production: Chinese electric vehicle battery investments in Morocco

Amid intensifying geopolitical tensions and accelerating decarbonisation imperatives, firms and states are reconfiguring global production networks through strategies such as nearshoring and friendshoring. These strategies reflect a growing preference for geographic proximity and regulatory alignment to manage geoeconomic risk. Grounded in Relational Economic Geography (REG), we propose a three-pillar framework: contextual positioning, strategic relational proximity and coupling practices, to explain how states and firms co-construct emerging industrial geographies. This paper examines how emerging market multinationals (EMNEs), particularly those from China, are restructuring the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector through strategic investments in key intermediary economies. Focusing on Morocco, due to its preferential trade agreements, its renewable energy base, and its growing industrial base, which recently attracted several Chinese EV battery investments. We examine how geopolitical and regulatory fragmentation is driving new spatial strategies. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and on-site field investigation, policy analysis and trade data, we conceptualise a geoeconomic bridging node as a host economy that enables regulatory and geopolitical alignment across conflicting trade blocs. The findings suggest how Global South economies may leverage regulatory fragmentation and geopolitical rivalry as assets in production (re)organisation.