One of 2025’s big market stories has been the tariff dance facing investors. In the spring, tariff fears took a big bite out of market performance. At the same time, international equities spiked as investors sought out diversification. International funds have continued throughout the year to offer some intriguing opportunities, but some have fallen off since that spike. Those international equities can still provide both upside and diversification for investors, however, with the right approach. A bottom-up, active ETF could be the right way to do so.
See more: Eyeing Tax-Exempt ETFs? TAXE’s Active Approach Stands Out
To begin with, active already offers some powerful advantages over passive when it comes to international equities. Passive, index-tracking ETFs can have their benefits, but the lack of adaptability can pose some problems. Should geopolitics or policy intervene, active management can really help certain funds adapt. Passive offerings, by contrast, have to keep their allocations to a specific set of rules.
More than just that flexibility, however, a bottom-up active approach can really help in a wide world of stocks. It’s one thing to track a global market cap-weighted index, or even a regional fund. A bottom-up strategy doesn’t just defer to name brands, but deeply scrutinizes opportunities. With opportunities available abroad, but uncertainty about where specifically to look, that high conviction approach can intrigue.
The T. Rowe Price Global Equity ETF (TGLB) provides just that kind of bottom-up active approach. TGLB charges a competitive 46 basis point fee to actively invest in global markets, including emerging markets equities. The fund’s managers actively invest in individual firms with strong fundamentals. It does lean on top-down, macro data as well to help identify the strongest opportunities in various markets and industries. However, the security selection is done from a bottom-up fundamental research approach.
Together, that has helped the recently launched fund return 2.4% over the last three months. Looking ahead, its high convictions could help it outperform more staid, passive alternatives. For those looking to add some foreign diversification, the active international ETF could be one to watch.
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