posted on its website last month, HP said it is adding in Mexico “incremental notebook PC production to serve customers throughout the region” and hopes to expand its existing printer manufacturing facility in Corvallis, Ore.
Toymaker Lego also has been reducing shipments from China to the United States. In 2015-2017, an annual average of almost 18 percent of the company’s U.S. products came from China, according to S&P Global. That dropped to just 3 percent last year. Still, China remains the world’s factory, accounting for 31 percent of global manufacturing value added, compared with 17 percent for the second-ranked United States.
Some economists say the drop in Chinese shipments to the United States may not be as dramatic as the Census Bureau data suggests. Chinese government reports show a smaller decline. “China’s U.S. market share has fallen far more if the U.S. data is used than if the Chinese export data is used,” he said in an email. “There is no doubt about the recent weakness by the way — but some real doubt about the extent the U.S. really has decoupled with China.”