05-Nov-18, South China Morning Post
An escalating trade war between the US and China is causing companies caught in the crossfire to accelerate plans to shift portions of their supply chains out of the mainland, with Southeast Asia slated to benefit from the disruption of trade flows.
%20AFP.jpg "US China trade war to accelerate supply chain shift to ASEAN (c) AFP")
Image: AFP
"Plant capacity is opening up around Asean. These decisions are definitely at the board level. For many companies, these have risen to that level of significance," said Gerry Keefe, Citibank's head of corporate banking for Asia-Pacific.
The US has placed tariffs on some USD250 bn of Chinese made goods as it seeks to reduce a massive trade deficit with China and force Beijing to stop engaging in what it claims are unfair trade actions. Chinese authorities have responded with a series of tit-for-tat tariffs.