CNN Business did a story today, entitled Mid-sized American companies are already moving away from China. The story is based on an Umpqua Bank survey of 550 executives at companies with between $10 and $500 million in annual sales. The survey was released today and it revealed the following:

1. “Midsized US companies are realizing that they need to diversify away from China and have already begun to take action.”

2. “Middle-market companies have started to shift their supply chains to other parts of Asia and are selling more to other countries to make up what they can’t sell to China.”

3. “More than half said they are looking to diversify their supply chains — both domestically and to other international markets.”

4. “Nearly 20% . . . are searching for new customers in other markets., primarily in Europe, and other parts of Asia, Latin America and the United States.”

5. “The decision to diversify beyond China is less about politics and the trade war and related more to diminishing advantages of making products in China.”

6. “There have been more hurdles in place with China. It has taken longer to get paid, too. China had already made things more complicated, but now the trade war is heightening things.”

7. “Many mid-size companies said they are eager to embrace Europe as a bigger customer to help offset lost sales from China.”

In future posts, we will discuss how we see China stepping up its retaliation against Western companies and what we think Western companies should do to reduce their reliance on China as what constitutes the New Normal continues to worsen.

Stay tuned.