American companies are wary of the growing animosity between the US and China, particularly as Trump administration officials are beginning to name and embarrass companies they see as bowing to Beijing.
The business community is closely following the speeches and other public comments of officials such as the Secretary of State. Mike Pompeo
Michael (Mike) Richard PompeoUS, China’s horseman for the space race lead Pompeo’s clear comment on Communist China: “We can’t ignore it any longer” Pompeo’s China speech is at odds with Trump’s foreign policy “America first” MOREThey are increasingly concerned about the rhetoric in recent weeks that portrays China as the main national security threat to the United States.
But companies are not making any quick moves to exit the world’s second-largest economy. While the global COVID-19 pandemic has led some companies to look for additional supply chains elsewhere, they still hope that Washington and Beijing will find a way to fix things.
“In general, American companies are opposed to the Trump administration’s views on China,” said Shaun Rein, founder of the China Market Research Group.
“They make a lot of money here, they don’t want to leave. The only time they want to leave is to duplicate supply chains. “
However, administration officials are publicly putting pressure on several high-profile companies by characterizing competition between the two countries as an ideological battle for the future of the free world. In doing so, they have deliberately targeted American companies doing business with China.
“In Hollywood, not far from here, the epicenter of American creative freedom and self-styled arbiters of social justice, self-censorship is even the most mildly unfavorable reference to China,” Pompeo said Thursday during a speech in California.
Attorney General William Barr
Bill Barr’s speech in China is at odds with Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy The deterioration of relations with China has put US companies on the edge Cuomo says Wolf, Cuccinelli violated the oath of office and should be researched MORE, in remarks in Michigan on July 16, highlighted Disney and said failure to call Beijing for its intellectual property theft and censorship will destroy the free market.
“Like other American companies, Disney can eventually learn the hard way the cost of compromising its principles,” Barr said.
The comments are sending ripples through the American business community in China. Executives generally agree with the administration’s criticism of how the Chinese government operates, but feel they are being unfairly targeted without any clear direction of what to do next.
“We disagree publicly and privately with the Chinese government on a number of issues and we want to encourage both countries to peacefully resolve their differences,” said Doug Barry, director of communications for the United States and China Business Council, a group of defense representing about 220 companies. who do business in China
“To do this, the United States government needs a smart, comprehensive long-term policy that our members hope to play an important role in development.”
More troubling is Barr’s suggestion that US executives could conflict with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a law that requires certain people to register as lobbyists for a foreign government.
Barr, in his Michigan speech, said that American business leaders “should be vigilant as to how it could be used and how their efforts on behalf of a foreign company or government could implicate” FARA.
His remarks sparked a rebuke from Barry, who said that American companies represented by corporate executives “will not be puppets or agents for foreign governments.” Barry also argued that American business leaders have played a positive role in fostering relations between the two countries that advance the interests of American politics.
“There is no floor below the downward spiral of the relationship. We urge both countries to come together and scale, “he said. “It worked with the Phase One deal. Give diplomacy a chance.
Trump’s signing of the Phase One Trade Agreement with China in mid-January was welcomed by the business community as a positive step toward improving relations.
But Trump, enraged by what he sees as China’s responsibility for the spread of COVID-19, said last month that he was not planning to continue a second round of talks.
The coronavirus recession and general public dissatisfaction with Trump’s response to the pandemic have given the president a serious setback in his hopes for a second term.
As a result, the president focused on China as part of his re-election campaign, attacking the alleged Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden
Joe BidenBiden to pay tribute to Lewis on Capitol Hill on Monday Trump lashes out at the Reagan Foundation after fundraising request Trump’s approval of coronavirus management reaches a new low level MORE like having a history of being too soft on Beijing.
Trump also backs up his tough conversation with the action.
The State Department ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston on Wednesday. China retaliated by closing the American consulate in Chengdu.
Those measures follow administration restrictions and visa sanctions over Beijing’s withdrawal from Hong Kong freedoms and allegations of human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims.
Additionally, the State Department has formally rejected China’s claims in the South China Sea, raising fears of a military build-up in strategic shipping waters.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department and the FBI are increasing their criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.
“We have reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a speech at the Hudson Institute this month.
Chinese officials have dismissed the speeches of administration officials as “unfounded,” “fact-distorting,” and “full of ideological bias and a Cold War mindset” and say Beijing wants to improve relations.
“We are committed to developing a China-US relationship that offers non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a conference on Friday. press.
The Trump administration’s attacks on American companies represent a new front line in the tensions between Washington and Beijing.
“The main debate now is decoupling. To what extent is it possible, and would it really allow the United States to take more severe punitive measures without inflicting collateral damage on US companies and other stakeholders that have actions in China? asked Kristine Lee, associate member of the Center for a New American Security in its Asia-Pacific Security Program.
If the administration’s goal is to get American companies out of the Chinese market, increased rhetoric is beginning to have the desired effect by souring the optimism of American companies operating there.
Barry said an upcoming report from the US-China Business Council will show that the surveyed companies have slowed down new investments due to concerns about relations between the two countries. They also note that their profits in China have fallen amid the pandemic.
Administration officials would argue that findings like those support his opinion.
Pompeo, in his comments in California, said “Beijing depends more on us than we depend on them.”
The new approach of the United States government towards China, he added, is “to distrust and verify”.
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