Thousands of UK Firms Cut Ties With China Amid Rising Tensions: Industry Group

By Alexander Zhang
31 July 2022

Thousands of UK businesses are cutting their economic ties with China as they anticipate faster decoupling between China and the West, according to a major UK business group.

Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Director-General Tony Danker said thousands of companies in the UK are currently rethinking their supply chains in anticipation of hardening anti-China political sentiment.

“Every company that I speak to at the moment is engaged in rethinking their supply chains,” he told FT Weekend. “Because they anticipate that our politicians will inevitably accelerate toward a decoupled world from China.”

Danker said the UK needs “new strategic alliances in the world” as tensions rise with China. In Washington, the need for companies to build “resilience” in preparation of a divorce from China was “all they are talking about,” he noted.

As the UK’s relations with China turn sour, the country will need to find new trade partners and rekindle old ones, such as the European Union, according to Danker.

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