Over the past three years, companies shipping goods between the United States and China have faced lockdown-related disruptions in China, a labor shortage in the United States, and a worldwide shipping container shortage. While decreased demand, a shift in ocean shipping traffic, and increased air cargo capacity are helping to alleviate some of the challenges, there is still a looming threat of costs and transit times going back up.
China Market Intelligence
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November 2nd, 2022
November 2nd, 2022
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) went into effect on June 21, six months after it was passed with broad bipartisan support. The law has been implemented and enforced by the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) over the past four months. USCBC has actively engaged with the administration throughout the implementation process to highlight the importance of cooperation with industry stakeholders.
October 24th, 2022
China’s 20th Party Congress meetings closed on October 22 after the election of a new Central Committee of 205 members and 171 alternates and the approval of numerous revisions to the party constitution. The next day, at the first plenary session of the 20th Central Committee, the 24-member Politburo was elected from Central Committee members, and China’s highest leadership body—the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC)—was chosen from this group.
October 18th, 2022
On October 16, President Xi Jinping delivered his 20th Party Congress Work Report in the Great Hall of the People, marking the opening of the week-long 20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Occurring every five years, the Party Congress not only chooses top Party personnel, but also establishes high-level political priorities for the subsequent five years. Over each five-year period, the Party then generally convenes seven plenary sessions, during which major policy...
October 13th, 2022
It has been nearly three years since I have set foot in China. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I would travel to China several times per year for important conversations. However, restrictions imposed by China on international travel in March 2020 have made trips nearly impossible for all but the most dedicated China hands, even despite some small adjustments to facilitate visas, increase flight availability, and shorten quarantines. Just a few months shy of the 50th anniversary of USCBC’s...
October 5th, 2022
One of the biggest uncertainties in China’s cyberspace governance regime is how strict enforcement will be, and whom enforcement will prioritize. Based on publicly available data and conversations with companies and experts, enforcement of personal information issues appears focused on domestic internet platform giants, such as Didi, Tencent, and Alibaba, rather than foreign companies. USCBC also understands that in some sectors outside of tech, such as finance, enforcement has been more...
October 5th, 2022
Over the last three years, as the world has transformed logistically, politically, and culturally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, Western companies’ views of China’s business environment have changed significantly. While both European and US companies have a dimmer business outlook than before, they have each been affected in different ways.
October 5th, 2022
Only a month away from election day, forecasts estimate that the GOP will take control of the House, with FiveThirtyEight putting the odds at Republican chances of winning the House back at around 70 percent. In the Senate, the odds are flipped. While the issues of inflation and abortion rights have dominated airwaves this election cycle, China is still a campaign issue for many candidates. USCBC previously reported on candidates’ positions on US-China relations and trade during the primary...
September 21st, 2022
Much has happened since our last update on the COVID-19 situation in China in June. Over the past two months, all provinces experienced surges in daily new case reports. The most significant uptick came in August, when a group of tourist hotspots—Hainan, Xinjiang, and Tibet—all began to report large-scale outbreaks that resulted in city-wide lockdowns in Sanya, Shigatse, and other locations. These outbreaks soon spilled over to other provinces, including Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Liaoning,...
September 21st, 2022
In mid-September, the onshore and offshore yuan broke the significant threshold of 7 yuan to the dollar—the lowest level since July 2020. So far this year, the yuan has depreciated roughly 8 percent against the dollar. The depreciating yuan comes as the dollar continues to gain strength, and at home, China is facing mounting economic pressures due to its COVID-19 controls and ongoing housing crisis.
