Beijing-Washington tension top worry for US firms in China: AmCham

Other top concerns include inconsistent and unclear policies and enforcement, rising labour costs and data security issues.

Despite exhortations by Chinese leaders that Beijing welcomes foreign businesses, many chamber members continue to face barriers to investment and operations, including policies that discriminate against them and public relations campaigns that create suspicion of foreigners, the report noted.

Though US-China relations improved last year, the US presidential election in November this year is looming large over future business environment, it remarked.

“We recognise that there are significant areas of contention in the US-China relationship, many of which have no easy or short-term prospects for resolution," it said.

A top priority for the chamber now is high-level communication exchange between the two sides.

Though American companies operating in China saw improved profits last year, slightly less than half expect to be profitable this year.

Many AmCham members, however, were more optimistic about growth of the Chinese economy.

The report recommended Beijing to create and implement transparent and practical economic policies that treat domestic and foreign entities at par.

It appealed to Chinese leaders to clarify and narrow the scope of the country's anti-espionage law to prevent it from interfering with normal business operations.

It also urged the US administration to avoid resorting to unilateral controls that may be ineffective and fail to meet goals for national security and foreign policy.

American companies, in general, have no plans now to move supply chains out of China, but their willingness to raise investments there and make the country their strategic focus has been falling due to reducing benefits, the report added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)