US-China relations and tariffs are the top concerns of US companies doing business in China. US-China relations continue to top the list of business challenges, and tariffs jumped from eighth to second place amid renewed trade frictions. Companies’ first priority for the bilateral negotiations that kicked off in May is tariff reduction.
Rising costs have been a concern in China for many years, but this year’s survey suggests that the increases may have outpaced company expectations of tolerable expense increases.
Trade secrets have increasingly become a critical component of companies’ intellectual property (IP) portfolios in China alongside more visible forms of intellectual property, such as patents and trademarks.
In recent years, China has established a clear goal to rebalance its economy through increasing imports and growing domestic demand. In line with those objectives, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) has developed this paper to identify sector-specific recommendations government officials may consider to achieve these goals.
As the US-China commercial relationship has developed over the past four decades, US law firms have increasingly invested in China, and have sought to help foster a compliant and mutually beneficial business environment for foreign and Chinese clients.
China has made considerable progress in recent years in its efforts to boost innovation and intellectual property (IP), with an improved legal and regulatory framework, stronger efforts to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR), an expanding body of registered IP, and the growth of corporate research and development (R&D) activities.
PRC officials made a series of commitments in 2011 to break existing links between indigenous innovation and government procurement preferences – a significant concern for the US-China Business Council and its member companies.
