Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/how-covid-19-southeast-asia-is-threatening-global-supply-chains-2021-10-06/
New coronavirus spikes in some of the largest manufacturing countries in the world are causing and will continue to cause a ripple effect in the supply chains of almost everything from automobiles to apparel. In Vietnam, production has been reduced or halted since April. Suppliers for Apple, Samsung and other technology corporations located in northern Vietnam were ordered to temporarily shut down along with three other industrial parks. Taiwan’s Pou Chen Corporation was forced to suspend operations at their Ho Chi Minh City and Changshin Vietnam factories around the same time causing delays for Nike and Adidas apparel. Vietnam is also facing certain apparel and clothing companies taking their manufacturing to countries elsewhere due to the delays. Around the world the semiconductor is causing breaks in the supply chains due to coronavirus related shut downs in Malaysia. Although Thailand took a different approach to dealing with coronavirus, factories were still forced to periodically shut down and they still dealt with difficulty in getting other parts and a shortage of migrant workers, affecting the food production, the rubber industry, and the automobile industry.
The effects of this ongoing issue have been seen since March 2020 and will continue well throughout the next couple of years. Although the United States is getting over their battle with coronavirus, “normalcy” will not fully return until the rest of the world has achieved near the same level of immunity as the United States. Economically, the U.S. cannot run without the cheap costs of production in developing countries, where coronavirus has continually been an issue despite the improvements in MDCs. Without help from countries like the U.S. they will continue to have these issues that affect the supply chains worldwide.
This shows how there is a need for global cooperation in the world today as states become more and more connected with each other. It is in the U.S.’s national interest to lend a helping hand to developing countries because it will help to fix the national shortages and problems that have been caused by this pandemic. Also, observing this issue from a global perspective in a unipolar system where the United States is the top power it can be said that it is our obligation to help other countries when we are able to. And, as COVID-19 has very clearly shown us, the world is more connected than ever economically, socially, and technologically.