On April 9, 2020, it was announced that Japan has earmarked US$2.2billion of its stimulus package to help manufacturers move their production from China. The US has held its ground and tariffs have stayed as the trade war continues between the two largest economies.
For years, companies have been slowly moving production away from China. Other Asian countries have taken advantage of this. Vietnam seems to be on the rise with companies like The North Face and other top apparel brands have settled their manufacturing in the country.
However, their current stance on government censorship could be a red flag for some fortune 500 companies. As reported by Reuters, the Vietnamese government have asked Facebook to censor “Anti-state” posts and was pressured to do so as their servers were taken offline early this year resulting in either slow local traffic or became unusable at times.
With the stance of the Vietnamese Communist government on media censorship, this could play a big part as companies consider their next location for manufacturing. Other countries, like the Philippines, do not have such restrictions but have other barriers to entry.
Sources:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/japan-to-fund-firms-to-shift-production-out-of-china
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-facebook-exclusive-idUSKCN2232JX
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3080633/coronavirus-china-trade-war-tariffs-stay-even-us-suspends
