manufacturing relocation

MNCs in the News-2019-08-09

To cope with United States (US) tariffs on Chinese goods, several prominent Japanese firms operating in China are planning to relocate some of their manufacturing to other Asian countries. China’s State Council has expanded the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ), adding an area called Lingang area which is supposed to become a business cluster for international businesses and cross-border financial services. The China-US trade war has driven two large Chinese consumer health care companies to seek to cooperate with/invest in Malaysia’s largest generic drug maker to grow their manufacturing base in Malaysia. China’s Zhong Ji Mining froze operations at its gold mine in Kyrgyzstan after 20 people were hurt in clashes between local protesters and Chinese workers. Tokyo touts that it had approved the export of a sensitive chemical to Korea, the first since it intensified export controls in July. Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister reports Japan’s Daihastu Motor “would provide ‘advanced technological support’” for Malaysia’s third national car company. A Korean National Labor Relations Commission decision to freeze the ongoing arbitration between GM Korea and its labor union means the labor union now has the legal right to strike. Due to Seoul’s decision in 2018 to have all public enterprises sell their overseas assets,” Korea Resources Corp. has been pursuing the sale of its Cobre Panama copper mine, albeit unsuccessfully.

MNCs in the News-2019-07-26

China’s Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology said the relocation of foreign companies due to the United States (US)-China trade war is “limited and under control.” China opens financial sector to overseas firms while moving to minimize risks confronting the sector. US Senator Joe Manchin raises alarm about 2017 USD $83.7 billion-dollar investment deal in West Virginia. Malaysia and China agree to resume Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) following an agreement to cut the project’s cost by about one-third. Major Japanese firms sign on to 30% Club, a global initiative aiming to put more women in top leadership positions globally. US National Security Advisor John Bolton says US does not intend to mediate Japan-South Korea forced labor and trade conflict. South Korean distributors of Japanese goods in South Korea suffering from boycott. Trade conflicts around the global are driving South Korean chaebol to invest in the US to escape the problems associated with these disputes.