TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — “The world is no longer flat,” Giant Manufacturing's chairwoman, Bonnie Tu, told Bloomberg in an article on the migration of manufacturing out of China.
Giant has moved quickly to move its bike and e-bike production out of China. The company has shifted back to its home country of Taiwan and has opened an e-bike factory in Hungary to serve the European market.
In the Bloomberg article, Tu alluded to Thomas Friedman's 2005 bestseller, "The World is Flat." She said the current trade war has ended the level playing field. She said Giant began looking for options outside of China as soon as President Donald Trump began talking about a 25% tariff on Chinese goods. She also said if the tariff is removed Giant would move production back to China.
“Last year, I noticed that the era of Made In China and supplying globally is over,” Tu told the news service. Giant's stock was up 10% Monday after the company announced that it expected a quarter of its revenue this year to come from e-bikes.
