US policy on China hurting businesses, insiders say

Margaret Wong, a businesswoman in Sacramento, California, said she has been forced to look for countries other than China to manufacture her products, but has had little luck so far in terms of efficiency. "I'm not going to give up on China. ... Section 232 is really killing us," she said.

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorizes the president of the United States to adjust, through tariffs or other means, the imports of goods or materials from other countries if the quantities or circumstances surrounding those imports are deemed a threat to national security

In 2018, then US president Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China under Section 232. President Joe Biden has kept the tariff in place.

"Our profit margins are down because of the tariff.... Why is inflation so high? Because of the 25 percent import duty," Wong said.

She shared her grievances during the annual conference of the Committee of 100 in San Jose, California, where industry insiders discussed how the US government's China policy is affecting trade and economy.

"Due to the rising costs, a lot of my clients are saying that they don't want to buy (made in China) products. But no other place can replace China. We've been actively looking at 'Made in Mexico' (products), but it (the business strategy) has not been as efficient as I expected," she said.

"These three Acts intentionally shut out Chinese investors," she said. "The CHIPS and Science Act is (meant) to protect the American semiconductor industry, especially supercomputers and chip fabrication. The Inflation Reduction Act has the 'foreign entity of concerns' provision to make sure Chinese investors cannot participate in tax incentives or credits for electric vehicles, EV batteries and renewable energy industry."

Given the current geopolitical tensions, the US-China FDI will probably continue to decline, Pan added.