Jianggan Li: US-China Trade Chaos, Vietnam Caught in the Middle & Why Everyone’s Diversifying – E582

"One sentiment is people saying, 'Nah, there's nothing we can do, so might as well just spend some time playing cards, let's relax a little bit and just see what goes.' And some factories are saying, 'Okay, let's just pause for a while.' Some of them actually did pause, which is weird because for a long time many of them were telling me, 'Okay, they can't, they can't afford to pause.' And the second group of people, which I find really interesting, are sharing clips of the Korean War—because that was the first time the communist government of China managed to defend against a much more superior U.S. army in Korea. So they were putting all these clips from back then, saying, 'Yeah, we can eat the bitterness and this.' I have to say, it's funny that you mention that, because from the Chinese perspective, they thought they won the war—while I think most people in America believe they won the Korean War by defending South Korea against North Korea." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

"It's interesting that we're trying to make predictions, but what you potentially see is people form an opinion about a certain development, and they try to act on that opinion—then that forms a trend. One example is that every China e-commerce player was thinking about the U.S. market and thought it was too hard, but when Temu went in, everybody said, 'Okay, if they can go in, why can't I go in?' So now we see that as some of them are shut out of the U.S. markets, they’ll reassess the other markets in a more aggressive way. The question for many of them is still how can they build this? For selling goods, yes, for sure—they have the manufacturing leverage they can play. But for really building long-lasting business models and platforms in different countries, how do they work effectively with the local players? Selling goods is straightforward—you find local distributors or you pay the local tax, etc." - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

"No, seriously, most people don't know what to do. I mean, it's just that—in early March, people were still pushing aggressively to relocate some of the manufacturing to Vietnam. So we brought a delegation of Chinese businesses to Ho Chi Minh City, and 50 of them showed up, which is a large group to manage. But a few days later, when that tariff on Vietnam was slapped on, people were just confused—'Mm, what should we do next?'" - Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works

Jianggan Li, Founder of Momentum Works speaks with Jeremy Au to unpack how the US-China trade conflict is reshaping global manufacturing, trust in international trade, and Southeast Asia’s role in the crossfire. They explore why businesses are stuck in limbo, how Vietnam and Cambodia became unintended casualties, and what diversification looks like when no one trusts the rules anymore. The two dive into historical analogies, business strategy, and what Chinese multinationals might do next to weather the storm.