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Biggest iPhone Assembler Warns Trade War May Last a Decade 

Foxconn chairman Gou identified Mexico and Vietnam as the countries most likely to benefit from the trade tensions. 

Biggest iPhone Assembler Warns Trade War May Last a Decade 
Billionaire Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, pauses while speaking during an event for the signing of an Electronics and Information Technology Manufacturing Zone Tax Credit Agreement in Racine, Wisconsin, U.S. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-China trade war may drag on for up to 10 more years, according to the founder of the biggest assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, who warned of fundamental changes to export markets.

Despite recent moves toward a possible detente, the trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies could last five to ten years, Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou told business leaders at a summit in Xiamen, China on Tuesday, according to a report in the Taipei-based Economic Daily News. Economic and technological competition between the U.S. and China will lead to a shift from globalization toward polarization, he said.

Biggest iPhone Assembler Warns Trade War May Last a Decade 

The U.S. sees China as a strategic rival and will build barriers to prevent it from acquiring key technologies and components, forcing China to change the way it produces and develops technology, Gou said. The global supply chain will have to restructure to be stronger and more flexible.

“Big scale won’t be the only winning formula any more,” he said.

Gou identified Mexico and Vietnam as the countries most likely to benefit from the trade tensions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adela Lin in Taipei at alin95@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samson Ellis at sellis29@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.