Lego opens Vietnam plant as tariffs hit world

Factory will produce toys in Asia for Asia

- NGUYEN XUAN QUYNH

Lego A/S is undaunted by the wave of new tariffs President Donald Trump unleashed on US trading partners as the world’s largest toymaker opened a new production complex in Vietnam.

The company does not foresee the changes to global supply chains disrupting the production ofits toy bricks, Chief Executive Officer Niels B. Christiansen said during a visit to Vietnam on Wednesday.

“Asa group, we'll probably be able to cope pretty well,’ he said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “We typically produce within the region that we sell.”

The company plans to invest $1 billion over 15 years in the complex, which will produce toys for Asia, he said. The company’s Mexico factory, and future Virginia plant, will provide products for North America, he added.

The opening of Lego's sixth production centre comes just days after the Trump administration upended global trade and financial markets by announcing the highest US tariffs in more than 100 years. The changes have left manufacturers in export-oriented countries such as Vietnam, which now faces new duties of as much as 46%, scrambling to figure out how to navigate the new global trade landscape.