• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » U.S., European Firms Rethink China Investment After Lockdowns

U.S., European Firms Rethink China Investment After Lockdowns

Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary, listens during a House Financial Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. Photo: Bloomberg.
May 18, 2022
Bloomberg

U.S. and European businesses are reconsidering their investments in China after the lockdown in Shanghai and restrictions in other cities caused major disruption to their operations.

The American and European Union chambers of commerce in separate briefings said their members are rethinking their supply chains and whether to expand investment in the face of China’s zero tolerance approach to combating COVID-19.

“The Covid lockdowns this year and the restrictions over the past two years are going to mean that three, four, five years from now, we will most likely see investment decline,” Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said Tuesday in Beijing. 

While this doesn’t mean an immediate shift outside of China, Hart said that many firms that source from China are asking where else they can get supplies, and whether they should be building or sourcing from somewhere else.

The outlook is shared by European companies. Many members of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China are putting investment plans on pause and starting to consider whether to leave the country, the business group’s representatives said at a briefing Monday. Uncertainties about a potential next wave of outbreaks are taking a heavy toll on business confidence, they said.

“Uncertainty is really the keyword, because there’s no view, no outlook about how long this could last, and what will be next after Shanghai,” said Massimo Bagnasco, vice president of the European chamber.

Profits of foreign firms in China are falling, and companies have become increasingly vocal about the impact on their businesses from Covid lockdowns and restrictions. Earlier this month, more than half of U.S. firms said they were reducing or delaying investment plans and expected lower revenue due to the economic fallout from extended lockdowns, which have clogged the world’s biggest port, closed highways and shuttered factories and businesses. 

And last week, respondents to a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China reported that nearly 30% of their foreign employees had plans to leave China because of Covid. The chamber surveyed 460 companies.

Read more: More Than Half U.S. Firms in China See Lockdowns Hitting Revenue

The restrictions that began in March in Shanghai and elsewhere come on top of existing travel controls, which have made it hard for employees of foreign firms to travel to China or visit headquarters overseas.

The travel restrictions have left AmCham “very concerned” about U.S. and other foreign investment into China, Hart said at a press conference to launch the chamber’s 2022 White Paper. 

China usually ranks among the top three destinations for investment among AmCham’s member companies, but “it is falling in preference,” Hart said, adding that if people can’t travel to the country, it will “decline as an investment destination.”

U.S. firms in China

Political pressure is also building on U.S. companies to reduce their reliance on China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday called on the U.S. and Europe to coordinate their approach toward China, saying that they have a “common interest in incentivizing China to refrain from economic practices that have disadvantaged us all.”

“We have become too vulnerable to countries using their market positions in raw materials, technologies, or products to exercise geopolitical leverage or disrupt markets for their own gain,” she said during a speech in Brussels.

European businesses continue to face challenges including lost production days, labor shortages and supply chain and logistics disruptions due to lockdown measures. The pressure to leave China will rise significantly if the obstacles don’t improve by the end of the year, said Joerg Wuttke, president of the chamber.

The economy is also unlikely to rebound this time around as sharply as it did in 2020 because of ongoing headwinds from the crackdown on the technology sector, a persistent property market slump, and capital flowing out of China as the China-U.S. interest rate differential diminishes, according to Wuttke.

Wuttke urged China to accelerate its vaccination efforts, as the vaccine uptake among those older than 65 has slowed in recent months. 

“You cannot hold an economy hostage by 150-to-160 million people that are insufficiently vaccinated,” he said. “This has to change, it can’t go on forever.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Sourcing/Procurement/SRM Global Supply Chain Management Global Trade & Economics Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt Supply Chains in Crisis
  • Related Articles

    More Than Half U.S. Firms in China See Lockdowns Hitting Revenue

    European Companies Plan to Invest More in China After the Pandemic

    Hackers Attacking U.S. and European Energy Firms Could Sabotage Power Grids

Bloomberg

Global Oil Trade Shakes Up After Fires at U.S. Fuelmakers

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN FARM, WITH WHITE CHICKENS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

    Worst Avian Flu in U.S. History Is Hitting Poultry

    Food & Beverage
  • TWO FINGERS MANIPULATE WOODEN LETTER BLOCKS TO TURN FROM SHOWING THE WORD RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

    Five Challenges to Supply Chain Resilience in 2023

    Supply Chain Visibility
  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing