They were operating in China due to the easy regulations, the cheapness of the rent and labor, and the ability to keep cash earned overseas without having to ever ever ever pay taxes on it.

Now that Trump has reduced the tax incentive, China's labor and land markets are not as cheap as they used to be, and regulations are starting to crop up in China, these incentives are lessening.

In the short term, it will affect manufacturing and retail margins as companies wean themselves out of China to new markets for their products, but the ability to withdraw and remove their equipment is shrinking as China nears itself to nationalizing all foreign property. Every Communist country ever has nationalized foreign property. It is China's last resort (the so-called "nuclear option") if the US keeps pushing.

Smart US companies should be looking to remove capital investments in China if they can, dismantle and ship equipment back to US for "maintenance" or claim "obsolescence", or even move it to Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, or South or Central America (my preference.)

Rich neighbors make good friends, and lessens them from sending their brat kids to our house for dinner.