Much has happened in Washington in recent weeks regarding the once comprehensive China legislative package. We expect Congress to pass a slimmed-down version before August recess. And just as important as what has happened is what hasn’t yet happened. We have not seen any movement on the Section 301 tariffs or a new Section 301 investigation. We are unaware of any shipments being detained by US Customs and Border Protection under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Both are things we had...
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July 25th, 2022
July 13th, 2022
Cases of COVID-19 are resurging across mainland China after a month of relative stability. Current hotspots include Gansu, Shanghai, Shandong, and Henan, and fresh lockdowns and other restrictions are impacting millions of people. From July 1 to 12, China reported a total of 4,063 cases, affecting 16 provinces and 47 cities. Among these, Anhui reported the highest number of infections and caused spillover cases in its neighboring province, Jiangsu, affecting mostly Wuxi and Xuzhou. These...
July 13th, 2022
Since taking office, President Biden has weighed how to proceed with the Section 301 tariffs imposed during the Trump administration that remain in place today, covering over $370 billion worth of Chinese goods. An internal debate within the Biden team has delayed a final decision, with one side supporting at least some tariff relief—for the sake of easing inflation and consumer prices—and the other arguing that lifting tariffs will reduce US leverage in trade negotiations with China.
July 13th, 2022
In late June, President Xi Jinping outlined a bold vision for the future of China’s approach to data governance, stressing that data is an essential resource for economic development, and one that must be regulated by the state in order to protect national security, personal information, and trade secrets. These remarks, combined with a flurry of recent policy developments, capture the contrasting logic driving Chinese data policy.
July 13th, 2022
We are halfway through the summer, and the view from Beijing continues to be one of uncertainty. Economic data for Q2 is set to be published this week and is likely to paint a bleak picture of the economic costs of a zero COVID policy when implemented to the extreme. Heading into the autumn, the overall COVID policy trajectory is not expected to change dramatically, so lingering economic impacts should be baked into companies’ second half forecasts. However, recognition of a problem is...
July 8th, 2022
On July 7, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released the final Outbound Data Transfer Security Assessment Measures (Chinese here, English here). Industry has been awaiting the measures ever since China passed the Cybersecurity Law in 2016. The measures implement elements of China’s Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law, which require “important data” and “personal information” to undergo a security review before being transferred outside China.
June 29th, 2022
In mid-June, a group of bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers released a revised version of the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act (NCCDA), a bill that would create a mechanism to screen and potentially modify or block certain US investments to “countries of concern,” including China. Shortly after, USCBC obtained a copy of a much narrower outbound investment review concept led by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). The Cornyn proposal would set new reporting requirements for US companies that...
June 29th, 2022
USCBC has been conducting monthly benchmarking interviews to understand the impact of lockdowns, gauging progress on resuming normal operations, and advocating with both central and local governments on behalf of members since April. Although China’s State Council and local governments have rolled out multiple measures to stabilize supply chains and ease logistics problems across the most affected regions, the business perception of these policies varies greatly depending on sector and...
June 29th, 2022
During President Joe Biden’s first presidential visit to the Indo-Pacific this May, he launched the long-awaited Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). While IPEF is not a traditional trade agreement, the framework is central to the Biden administration’s strategy to revive US economic leadership as China’s influence in the region grows. The multilateral strategy targets common concerns in the Indo-Pacific while also striving to address some of the administration’s most...
June 22nd, 2022
On June 15, we were proud to announce new board members and new board leadership. USCBC’s new chair is Mr. Marc Casper, Chairman, President, and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Marc is the first representative of the life sciences industry to serve as USCBC’s most senior executive. USCBC is grateful to outgoing chair, Mr. Tom Linebarger, CEO of Cummins, for his leadership over the last two years. Within the context of the US-China bilateral relationship,...
