Pressured by a labor crunch and rising wages in China, Shu Ke¡¯an, whose company supplies bulletproof vests, rifle bags and other tactical gear to the United States, first considered shifting some production to Southeast Asia a few years ago, but nothing came of it.

When trade tensions flared into a tariff war last year, however, it was the final straw.

A day after U.S. President Donald imposed additional tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods in September, Shu, 49, decided to start making vests for his U.S. clients in Myanmar instead.