In the context of rising trade protectionism and intensifying geopolitical competition, both endogenous drivers and exogenous pressures for the outward transfer of China’s manufacturing sector have increased. Based on the estimation of the scale of China’s manufacturing outward transfer using the ADB input-output table, text analysis and empirical analysis methods were employed to examine the “endogenous drivers” and “exogenous pressures” of China’s manufacturing outward transfer. The results indicate that both endogenous drivers and exogenous pressures coexist in the outward transfer of China’s manufacturing sector, with endogenous drivers being the primary force, but exogenous pressures are gradually becoming an important driving factor. The overall endogenous drivers for the outward transfer of China’s manufacturing include market seeking, technology acquisition, resource acquisition, utilizing cheap labor costs and host country institutional environments. Meanwhile, the exogenous pressures include manufacturing reshoring and trade frictions. However, when considering the motivations of utilizing cheap labor costs and resource acquisition, China also takes into account labor quality and the host country’s infrastructure conditions. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the transfer to developing countries is mainly driven by endogenous factors, while the transfer to developed countries, as well as the outward transfer of low-tech and medium-high-tech manufacturing, is influenced by both endogenous drivers and exogenous pressures. Additionally, manufacturing reshoring has a greater driving effect on the outward transfer of China’s medium-high-tech manufacturing.