US Tariffs Adds Financial Pressure to Foreign Manufacturers in China, Pushing Them to Leave

Employees work in a factory producing touchscreen glass, in Liuyang City, Hunan Province, on March 12, 2015.STR/AFP/Getty Images

Foreign firms are beginning an exodus from China as U.S. tariffs threaten to cut into their profits.

The departures aggravate an overall trend of foreign businesses leaving China that actually predates the U.S.–China trade war. As operating costs in China have risen, due to increasing worker wages and land prices, many multinationals that once turned to China for cheap manufacturing are now looking elsewhere.