As the U.S.-China trade war drags into its 16th month and continues to disrupt supply chains, more than one-quarter of multinational firms have not made contingency plans, showed a survey from a subsidiary of courier giant DHL.
The survey here by DHL Resilience360, included 267 anonymous responses from supply chain executives across industries including healthcare, automotive and consumer.
Of respondents, 48% from the engineering and manufacturing industry and 40% from the automotive mobility sector reported that they had no contingency plans at all, even though both fields have been heavily targeted by both countries in the trade war.
Of those that had decided against relocating or shifting production out of China, some said they were unaffected by the trade war. However, 43% said long-established connections with Chinese factories and suppliers as well cost and time were among reasons for staying put. Just 8% of respondents said they expected tariffs to eventually be removed.