India to Vietnam, Asia's 'mini Chinas' struggle to benefit from trade war

Part of the problem is reproducing the kind of supply chains, marketing access and existing contacts that have been built up by small and medium-sized manufacturers in China's industrial cities.

The US-China trade war reignited the debate over which developing countries in Asia could take over the mantle of the world’s workshop. The front-runners? India and Indonesia.

A report published Tuesday by Bloomberg Economics shows that no one nation is able to reproduce the kind of success China enjoyed in transforming its economy. Instead, a series of mini Chinas are set to develop, with each trying to leverage advantages but hampered by structural problems such as inadequate infrastructure or political instability.

China’s intricate networks of factories, suppliers, logistics services and transportation infrastructure grew up in a different era, underpinned by money and