US businesses keen to seize opportunities from US-China cooperation

U.S. business people expressed their enthusiasm toward potential opportunities arising from strong commercial ties between the United States and China.

A Chinese delegation led by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) is paying a week-long visit to the United States.

The 50-person delegation will have extensive and in-depth exchanges with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the State of New York, the State of Maryland, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S.-China Business Council, and other government departments and agencies, as well as with U.S. companies, according to Ren Hongbin, chairman of the CCPIT.

"We look forward to achieving concrete outcomes and cultivating new growth drivers through such communication," Ren told about 300 business people from various industries from both countries at the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum on Monday.

According to Ren, bilateral trade between the United States and China rose by 2.9 percent in the first half of 2024, and the number of U.S. companies announcing investment in China increased by over 20 percent. The amount of actual investment doubled in the period.

"We are encouraged by the current administration's efforts to resume bilateral dialogue and cooperation with China," said Declan Daly, chief operating officer with United States Council for International Business.

Daly said at the forum that it is time for the United States to re-engage with China on the issues of concern and the trade relationship to find negotiated solutions to long-standing disputes.

"Toward that end, we would welcome establishing a regular bilateral dialogue," added Daly.

Daly said there is no doubt about the importance of this enormous economic relationship between the United States and China to his members, which collectively have an annual revenue of over 5 trillion U.S. dollars and 11.5 million employees.

Peter Tichansky, president and CEO of the Business Council for International Understanding, said the United States and China align on issues like innovation, energy transition, artificial intelligence, chips and trade.

"The reason that we're here is because I wanna meet people that can introduce us into the Chinese infrastructure, Temu, TikTok and Shein," said Jonathan Webb, co-founder and co-CEO of New York-based e-commerce player Packable, Inc.

The U.S. market has a huge appetite for what is being manufactured in China, from selfie sticks to wax warming kits to magnetic puzzles, all the way to EV charging stations, said Webb on the forum's sidelines.

"All those goods are being manufactured in China and being brought to the United States, but everybody is nervous about the tariffs. So we have to figure out how to try to help mitigate those issues," he told Xinhua.

Webb mentioned that he plans to work with Chinese manufacturers and stated that such partnerships are necessary and will shape the future of his business.

Webb sees opportunities in bonded warehouses, foreign trade zones and some U.S. visa programs.

Ultimately, working with China creates jobs and economic stimulus in the United States, which is very important to the local municipalities inside the country, he said.

Webb warned that a further hike in tariffs on China-made products would cause many U.S. innovators who manufacture in China to leave for other countries and create chaos.

"China's involvement in the supply chain globally is very, very important," he said.

Robert L. Garland Jr., CEO of Garland & Zhang, LLC, said he is working to promote international trade directly with Indian communities and cooperation between Chinese manufacturers and American retailers.

"In the last several years, we've seen a lot of decline in supply chain items...So we want to try to reestablish ways to gain these at affordable prices," Garland told Xinhua.

Garland said the forum fostered a much better understanding of Chinese technology.

Jesse Weiner, co-managing partner at YK Law LLP, expressed his delight at seeing business deals, investments and trade flourishing, in contrast to the slowdown during the pandemic.

Weiner said many U.S. entities, entertainers and influences wanted to be in China and market their goods on the video-sharing platform Douyin, the e-commerce platform Tmall and Alibaba.

"Now, there's more positive cooperation and development among the two countries again. And I just can hope it continues in that trajectory," Weiner said.