During President Trump’s administration, and since COVID, we have begun to see manufacturing continuing to grow outside of China in other key parts of Southeast Asia. 

Most Americans do not know that, outside of China, there are roughly another 700 million people in Southeast Asia, which is part of the world’s largest continent called Eurasia.   Eurasia has over 100 nations and over 5 billion people who need to buy products and services.

Harry Dent is a famous economist who has focused on the demographics of consumers.  Using a Harry Dent-style demographic analysis, we must approximate that these Southeast Asia nations have well over 350 million young workers and consumers.

Therefore, China’s worst nightmare is whether these nations are willing to incentivize businesses that want to locate or outsource jobs outside of China. In theory, there could be a rush to locate in jurisdictions with business friendly wages, tax and regulatory structures.

Keep in mind that this analysis is not even looking at the 1 billion or more people in India and their capabilities.

What happened to the USA in the last 30 years could very well be inflicted upon China in the coming few years if it fails to remain competitive with international business. China citizens may also be demanding more salary and benefits.

Overall, the competitive structure of the 180+ nations around the world seems to be ever expanding. Water tends to flow where there is the least resistance, and business investment is not much different.

Many of the Southeast Asian nations have great beaches, lower costs than China,  and lower wage demands than China. Overall, each of these Southeast Asian nations has an amazing ability to prosper in the coming 10-20 years.

If China is strategically careful, it will be able to mitigate any losses by keeping favorable business conditions and tax structures for international investment.

In 2019, U.S. overseas affiliates employed 14.6 million workers. Sadly, the United States was not cautious enough to prevent the outsourcing of millions and millions of jobs over the last 40 years, but 29% of the S&P stock revenues are coming from outside of the USA.

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George Mentz JD MBA CILS is a CWM Chartered Wealth Manager ®, global speaker - educator, tax-economist, international lawyer and CEO of the GAFM Global Academy of Finance & Management ®. The GAFM is an ESQ EU accredited graduate body that offers certification training in 150+ nations under ISO 21001 and ISO 9001 standards. Mentz is also an award-winning author and graduate law professor of wealth management in the USA. Mentz, an award-winning professor, has taught over 250 courses in law, business, wealth economics, and ethics in the last 25 years for accredited law and business schools. Mentz is the author of over 60 books and audio books.