Companies have dodged Trump's tariffs in China, undermining a key argument for the trade war

• President Donald Trump has argued that his trade dispute with China would bring business back to the US.
• But European firms who operate there said they have instead been forced to move production elsewhere or absorb the cost of tariffs.
• US-based companies have warned of similar dilemmas, saying relocating to the US would be too costly or impractical in many cases.
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President Donald Trump vowed that his trade dispute with China would bring business back to the US. But European firms who operate there said they have instead been forced to move production elsewhere or absorb the cost of tariffs.

Larger companies from the bloc have relocated US-bound production to other emerging markets in Asia, a European Union Chamber of Commerce in China survey showed Monday. Smaller ones have paid the import taxes, passed them along or switched suppliers.

"Is this meeting the intended goal of driving investors - particularly larger companies - from the Chinese market back to the US? Clearly not," the report said. The results were based off of a September 12-20 survey of 174 respondents.

Even as tariffs draw increasing opposition from bipartisan lawmakers and businesses, the Trump administration has maintained its argument that the trade dispute would ultimately benefit Americans.

"Our jobs and factories are coming back home where they belong," Trump said at a campaign rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in September. "If foreign companies do not want to pay our tariffs, there is one very simple solution: Come and make your product in America. Come and make your product."

But economists have said that shift could be difficult in a global market. US-based companies have warned of similar dilemmas, saying relocating to the US would be too costly or impractical in many cases.