Jacob Parker, US-China Business Council (USCBC) vice president for China operations, last week led a delegation of member companies to the 20th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen, China. In addition to participating in the general forum and programs at CIFIT, USCBC organized meetings with Fujian government leadership and senior government officials from other participating provinces. Parker also attended the Symposium for Multinational Corporations hosted by...
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September 20th, 2018
September 20th, 2018
The increase of environmental enforcement actions following the implementation of China’s Environmental Protection Law in January 2015 has had a mixture of positive and negative effects on the business operations of US-China Business Council (USCBC) member companies. Temporary shutdowns and supply chain disruptions have negatively affected company operations, leading many to consider how to proactively mitigate the effects. At the same time, fairer enforcement has helped level the...
September 20th, 2018
Since the March announcement that China would restructure its government to make it “better-structured, more efficient, and service-oriented,” regulators have worked to formulate and release their “three determinations” plans. By clarifying the functions, structure, and staffing of reorganized government agencies, the plans shed light on how these ministries will function and how companies should begin interacting with them.
Several trends are notable in the plans...
September 20th, 2018
On September 7, the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), China’s constitutional authority, released its five-year legislative plan, outlining and prioritizing major legislative tasks into three classes that, in principle, are listed in descending priority; however, items are not passed or deliberated in sequence.
The 13th NPCSC's legislative plan includes 69 “Class I” projects to be completed by March 2023. However, many Class I projects...
September 20th, 2018
China’s regulators recently released the first drug traceability proposal since China suspended its previous system in 2016 because of a number of challenges, including complaints of unfair competition and that the government-issued serial number was not compliant with GS1 global standards for pharmaceutical traceability. The goal of the new proposal is to establish a system to trace drugs through the supply chain, prevent counterfeit and substandard drugs from entering the supply...
September 20th, 2018
The US-China trade conflict has once again escalated, with both sides preparing to implement tariffs on billions in goods next week. Monday evening, President Donald Trump announced his decision to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese imports and finalized the list of goods subject to the new tariffs, effective September 24. In response, China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) officially announced China will impose an additional tariff rate of 5 or 10 percent...
September 20th, 2018
As summer draws to a close, I would like to highlight a few trends USCBC’s China offices are observing based on their conversations with our membership, Chinese media, government sources, and other key influencers.
Tariff Impact
Tariffs were the most common discussion topic with foreign company executives in China over the summer. While the majority of USCBC members invested in China are manufacturing here to access the local market, some...
September 20th, 2018
USCBC’s 2018 member survey report, released on Tuesday, indicates that despite positive commercial gains in the last year, American companies have strong concerns about the increasingly rocky US-China relationship and implications for the business environment in China. American companies are less optimistic about China's policy direction and the trajectory of the bilateral relationship. They remain concerned about discriminatory industrial policies and the advantages enjoyed by...
September 6th, 2018
Newly-installed President of the US-China Business Council (USCBC) Craig Allen recently concluded his inaugural trip to China, where he met with senior government officials in Beijing and Shanghai. Officials were eager to discuss the US-China commercial relationship, share China’s perspective on the trade conflict, and explore the view from Washington. USCBC led meetings with Vice Premier Liu He, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang, Minister Zhang Mao of the State...
September 5th, 2018
Given the size and complexity of the Chinese ecommerce market, foreign companies often struggle to root out operations selling unlicensed or counterfeit versions of their products. The US-China Business Council (USCBC) consulted member companies to identify and create recommendations for the spate of new challenges to intellectual property (IP) protection in the ecommerce space, including:
Seek out memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with ecommerce platforms. Some...