US-China relations remain companies’ greatest challenge in the China market, and despite the truce, both governments continue to release new economic security policies. Against this backdrop, the business environment remains challenging for most companies. This year, China’s macroeconomy returned as companies’ second-biggest challenge.
The latest data on US exports to China paint a picture of extremes. In 2021, as global trade continued recovering from the pandemic, goods exports to China grew by 21 percent to an all-time high of $149.2 billion.
Over the last five years, China has constructed vast data, privacy, and cybersecurity regimes in the hopes of protecting personal data and strengthening national security.
Despite heightened tensions between the United States and China and the beginning of a pandemic-induced global recession in 2020, US goods exports to China rebounded after two years of tariff increases on both sides.
The Chinese government has set its sights on reforming its several-trillion-dollar public procurement environment to offer greater transparency and equal treatment to foreign companies, building on improvements over the last decade.
Despite a US presidential transition in 2021 and the beginnings of an economic recovery in both the United States and China, tensions in the bilateral relationship have only intensified since USCBC published its last annual member survey report.
In 2020, the global economy underwent significant shifts, and the US-China commercial relationship was no exception.
The US has benefited from trade and investment flows with China. The combination of bilateral trade, investment, and supply chain integration has supported economic growth, consumer choice, and job creation.
Over the past two years, tariffs and an uncertain business environment have prompted precipitous declines in US exports to China that have not been fully made up by export growth to other markets.
The past year has been one of victories, pitfalls, and surprises in US-China relations. Several of the most defining moments took place in the trade sphere, having a profound impact on US companies that do business in China.
Four months have passed since the United States and China signed the Phase One trade agreement. China has already followed through on several commitments, including liberalizing a range of agriculture policy restrictions, releasing policies according to its intellectual property (IP) commitments, and raising equity restrictions to give foreign companies new access to China’s financial markets.
