More than 70 percent of U.S. firms operating in southern China are considering delaying further investment there and moving some or all of their manufacturing to other countries as the trade war bites into profits, a business survey showed on Monday.
From China Law Blog, run by a prominent China-focused law firm:
Last month — for the first time ever — we did as many deals and drafted as many contracts with Asian countries outside China as we did for China. And literally not a day goes by without at least one of our international lawyers or (even more likely) one of our international trade lawyers getting a call from an existing client seeking our help in leaving China
We have been hearing the same pattern of behavior for video surveillance companies.
Certainly, this may reverse, e.g., if the Trump trade talks that led Dahua and Hikvision shares to soar last Friday result in stopping tariffs. But Reuters and China Law Blog findings underscore how critical the next few months will be in determining significant manufacturing sources.