More than 70% of US companies operating in China currently don’t plan to move factories out of the country, though fewer companies plan to increase investment in China amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the deterioration of China-US relations, a survey showed, reported Caixin.
Although the two countries signed a first phase trade agreement, US companies’ optimism about the prospects for bilateral economic and trade relations has cooled compared with last year, according to the survey released Wednesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
An ongoing debate about “decoupling” the world’s two biggest economies has also caused confusion for businesses, the survey found. Nearly 27% of companies in the survey said they think current economic and trade tensions will “continue indefinitely,” up from 16.9% last year. Those most pessimistic include companies in hardware technology, software, technology services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and life sciences.
The survey was conducted between June 16 and July 16 among 346 members of the Shanghai chamber. Among them, more than 200 companies have factories in China or outsource production to China.