Why U.S. Factories Won’t Leave Asia
There are still too many incentives to produce abroad for companies to shut down their global supply chains.
Apparel makers will shift to Vietnam, not back to the U.S.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
President Donald Trump likes to brag that he’s bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. And indeed, with global trade slowing, the planet-spanning supply chains that have symbolized modern economic globalization do appear to be contracting.
But don’t be too quick to dismiss the idea of “borderless” production as a 1990s fluke. Even if their reach is more limited than before, far-flung supply chains are almost certain to remain a fact of global manufacturing. There are simply too many incentives for companies to continue to produce and source in every corner of the globe -- from the abundance of cheaper workers to technological capabilities and changing patterns of consumer spending.