The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the hazards of depending on a specific country or region for assembled goods and components, a risk that has risen over the past 20 years. Many companies now are considering decoupling US and China value chains, especially as increased automation in manufacturing lowers production costs and erodes the labor cost benefit of assembling goods in foreign markets. US sectors depend on imports from China and Far East Asia worth $680 billion, and they could be looking to bring manufacturing closer to North America.

Related Insights

Coronavirus

The global Covid-19 pandemic has extracted a terrible human toll and spurred sweeping changes in the world economy. Across industries, executives have begun reassessing their strategies and repositioning their companies to thrive now and in the world beyond coronavirus.