With the rising price of oil, a consensus has been building that the world is becoming less "flat" than it was in Tom Friedman's bestseller The World is Flat. With higher energy prices global supply chains will fail, countries in East Asia will re-think their export orientation and try to stimulate domestic demand, and countries such as the United States may gain a competitive edge in their domestic market. Oil makes up nearly half of total freight costs and over the past three years every one dollar rise in oil caused a 1% increase in transport costs.

Snapshot asks, will higher energy costs make U.S. manufacturing more competitive?

Business Week - Can the U.S. Bring Jobs Back from China?
Morgan Stanley - High Transport Costs to ‘Un-Flatten' the World
Wall Street Journal - China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs
CIBC - Will Soaring Transport Costs Reverse Globalization?