Reprinted: VANCOUVER—As countries around the globe begin encouraging companies to move their manufacturing out of China, industry experts in Canada say it is possible that some goods manufactured there by Canadian companies could be shifted back home. (reprinted from The Star)
They also said such a shift wouldn’t be easy or on as large a scale as some may want.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to questions about whether the world is relying too heavily on mainland China as a producer of goods, particularly on essential products during the coronavirus pandemic, like medical equipment and food. The charge is mainly being led by the United States.
Many nations have been caught without enough ventilators or personal protective equipment, such as medical masks, to help fight the deadly virus and outsourcing production of such equipment to China is being partially blamed.
In Canada, at the request of the federal and provincial governments, companies pivoted their production lines to begin manufacturing some of the items in short supply.
Some argue the shift shouldn’t be just for the duration of the pandemic, but that we should be encouraging manufacturing to be done in Canada once again.
“In the longer run, we will be much better served if we can — as the Germans have done, as the Danes have done — develop much more higher-tech manufacturing,” said Mark Rowlinson of the United Steelworkers Union. “We could become an exporter of those manufactured goods and be less exposed to unfair trading practices of other countries.”
Such initiatives are being taken abroad. Read more>>