Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard participates in Brazilian Center for International Relations China Analysis Group Webinar on Asian Supply Chains and Decoupling

On May 6, 2020, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center) participated in a webinar organized by the China Analysis Group of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). For this timely CEBRI webinar, which focused on the theme of “Asian production chains and technological decoupling,” and included participants representing institutions in Brazil, China, and the United States (US), Dr. Blanchard offered thoughts about the impact of the US-China trade war, US moves to decouple from China, and Covid-19 on the future of Asian supply chains, foreign direct investment (FDI) moving into China, Chinese outward FDI, contracting, and the related issue of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He also provided some remarks about Southeast Asia’s likely receipt of FDI and supply chain development in connection with some of these developments and the implications of some of the aforementioned contemporary trends for Brazil. Dr. Blanchard stressed that supply chains primarily would remain in China, that COFDI and the BRI would be adversely affected, though there were countervailing forces, and that many dynamics ultimately would depend upon sectoral specifics. The webinar is viewable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RhD4Aw7Mao&feature=youtu.be.