Introduction A toy importer, thrilled about getting its toys from Vietnam at a great price paid $2 million upfront to a supposed “toy maker”. The dream turned into a nightmare when they realized there was no such Vietnamese toy maker, and no toys would ever materialize. This importer isn’t alone. Many foreign companies have faced
The shifting winds surrounding China geopolitics have left many companies feeling adrift. “We have been trying to diversify away from China manufacturing for years, but we’ve only managed to move about 10% of our supply chain out,” a client recently told me. “China still makes 80% of our products. Even if we wanted to pull
The Hidden Trade Barrier: Sinosure’s Export Credit Insurance Blacklist China’s Sinosure, a major (virtually the only) provider of export credit insurance to China’s factories, plays an instrumental role in facilitating trade between Chinese suppliers and international buyers. However, there’s an under-discussed aspect of their operations that is detrimental for certain countries: the so-called “country blacklist”.
We are proud to announce three new partners in our litigation, corporate, and regulatory practice groups. Harris Sliwoski’s New Partners Jonathan Bench (Salt Lake City – Partner) Jonathan chairs the firm’s international transactions group and is the managing attorney of the Salt Lake City office. Jonathan was for three straight years awarded a Corporate
The international lawyers at my law firm have been increasingly fielding inquiries from companies looking to diversify their supply chains away from China. Many of these companies are looking to move their China manufacturing to Southeast Asia. To help our clients moving to or already in Southeast Asia, I recently went to Vietnam, Indonesia, and
About a decade ago, I gave a speech on software outsourcing at a major software event. Last week, I found my outline for that speech and this post is based on that outline, revised and updated. It is largely based on my experiences and what I have learned from talking with clients and other businesses
I recently returned from a World Trade Center Utah delegation to Singapore, where I attended a briefing with Singapore’s first ambassador, Tommy Koh. Koh is a legendary diplomat and international law professor who humbly describes himself as a “founding servant” of Singapore. His list of accolades and professional accomplishments is significant, as well as his
Issue Orientation As the US relationship with China deteriorates across the political, military, economic, and trade dimensions, US companies with manufacturing operations in China are increasingly seeking out strategies to diversify supply chains, mitigate compliance risk, minimize duty exposure, reduce costs, and manage uncertainty. Though several approaches have been pursued since the inception of the
I am lately getting a ton of calls from reporters wanting examples of companies leaving China because of its increasingly oppressive cybersecurity, data security and counter-espionage laws. When I tell them I have no such examples, they are surprised. I then explain how companies tend to believe they are capable of navigating such things and
