As Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses try to stave off punishing US tariffs ahead of Donald Trump’s July 9 deadline, exporters across the region are rushing out orders, cutting prices, looking for new customers and rethinking their relationship with the world’s biggest economy.
Trump’s blanket 10 per cent tariff has already hurt countries reliant on exports to the US for growth, jobs and foreign exchange — and the higher rates the US president has vowed to impose unless they negotiate new trade deals could be devastating.
Financial Times reporters spoke to textile producers, electronics manufacturers and car suppliers trying to make sense of a market in turmoil.