With the rapid changes taking place in international manufacturing, there is a need for new theories linking the drivers for manufacturing location decisions to the influence of government. A Delphi study in 2017 of senior industrialists in Europe from capital intensive, complex technology manufacturing sectors provided evidence on the importance of government-specific factors for final location decisions. This was because of the influence of government policies as an exogenous factor on the drivers for international manufacturing, including cost effective, flexible supply chains and the use of the new technologies of Industry 4.0, in an uncertain global political climate. The findings are used to develop a new theoretical framework comprising the decision onion and the government policy matrix for multinational company manufacturing location decisions. This systematic approach to the influence of government will assist in the development of policy in the post-Covid 19 era of transformational change in industrial location strategies.