Banny Wang

Following President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal tariffs” on April 2, China swiftly responded with a broad package of retaliatory tools targeting US trade and investment.

Last month, preferential procurement of low-priced medical products under China’s volume-based procurement (VBP) system reignited public debate over the right balance between quality and affordability in the healthcare system. This procurement was prominent during the country’s 10th round of VBP for drugs and 5th round for high-value medical consumables in December.

Since our last update, the United States and China have continued engaging in dialogue over IP protection to address business concerns, including the vice-ministerial meeting during the second Commercial Issue Working Group in Tianjin last September. Several critical issues impacting American rights holders—such as patent term extensions, regulatory data protection, and trade secret protection—were discussed during both high-level and technical exchanges.

On September 30, China’s State Council released its finalized Network Data Security Management Regulations, set to take effect on January 1, 2025. The regulations are now the highest-level administrative guidance for implementing the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law.

Accessing China’s vast public procurement market continues to be difficult for US companies. Procurement issues appeared in this year’s list of top 10 challenges for USCBC members for only the third time in our survey’s history.