The current coronavirus-related pandemic could sever supply chains and links between the Chinese and US economies. This was found in a survey conducted among US companies operating in China, referred to in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

In March, only 44 percent of the companies surveyed could not envisage such developments, compared to 66 percent last October, according to a survey by the US Chamber of Commerce in China and the US Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. More than a quarter of companies are now planning to retrieve some or all of the materials from areas other than before, after the end of the spread of covid-19. While some intend to reorient only to other Chinese regions, 16 percent of companies said they wanted to move part or all of their production outside the country.

About 40 percent of US companies believe their supply chains will remain the same. Over half of them said it was too early to review their long-term supplier strategy.

Koronavirus struck China as the first country and forced local authorities to close factories, resulting in the breakdown of the global supply chains that depend on them. Director of the US Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai Ker Gibbs also recalled the need for greater diversification to reduce risks.

Some companies have begun to reassess their dependence on China before the outbreak of the pandemic. They noted the growing cost of the local workforce and was also worried about the Chinese-US trade disputes, WSJ recalls.

Some countries have already caused the effects of coronavirus to attempt to take production and supply chains back home. US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross also expressed the view that the situation around coronavirus will help return jobs to the United States. President Donald Trump's advisor, Peter Navarro, calls for the US not to be dependent on supplies from abroad for medical supplies. Japan, which announced this month that the move of companies will be motivated by subsidies, also wants to attract medical equipment manufacturers from abroad.

Moreover, according to Gibbs, coronavirus continues to aggravate US-Chinese trade relations already damaged by the two-year-long trade war. US firms based in Shanghai are disappointed by political leaders in both states who have allowed the pandemic to be the subject of political dispute.