More than 70% of corporate leaders in China, Japan and South Korea expect the trade war to damage their businesses, according to a recent joint newspaper poll of about 100 executives in each country.
About 79% of respondents from Japan, 73% from China and 81% from South Korea said the trade war will deal a blow to their operations, according to the survey, which was conducted by Nikkei, the Chinese daily Global Times and South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper from Nov. 27 to Dec. 13.
Chinese executives viewed the trade war’s impact so far as particularly severe, with 59% saying they will have to revise their global strategies, such as by moving production centers. By contrast, 64% of Japanese companies said the trade war has had no effect whatsoever. Only 12%, however, said it would not be a factor in the future.
In Japan, greater protectionism by Washington and Beijing was seen as the biggest risk for 2019, at 67%, followed by China’s economic slowdown at 50%.
