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On the 110th anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai this month, there were few initial signs that the American-Chinese trade war weighed on procedures. But that suddenly changed when the American consul General Scott Walker went on stage.
Following a speech by the retired star of the NBA Yao Ming, Walker won a litany of complaints on the commercial environment of China. These include intellectual property, subsidies, China Nearly 1 tn surplus of trade With the rest of the world, “arbitrary legal application” and a blocked or limited foreign investment. China “remains one of the most closed major economies in the world for trade and investment,” he said, and America wanted it to open “fairly”.
The next speaker, Chen Jing, president of the popular Shanghai association affiliated with the government for friendship with foreign countries, could not resist the scenario. “To counter the unfair remarks on the trade in China-US, has just done by the Consul General,” he started in Mandarin.
Before the interpreter had time to translate, a wave of applause had already crossed the public, which included many native speakers employed by American companies. Chen told Disneyland praise for Shanghai during a visit to Disney headquarters in Los Angeles two years ago.
“Then I went to San Francisco, to Gigafactory de Tesla, and they told me that the best Tesla Gigafactory in the world is in Shanghai,” he said. “So I want to ask the Consul General … Does it mean that trade is uneven, the commercial environment in China is not good and that Shanghai has no equal conditions for the development of companies funded by the United States?”
Compared to the rhetorical clashes of America 2025, such a debate may seem commonplace in the tone, or even retained. But in China, where public speech is carefully repeated, it was equivalent to an extraordinarily open exchange.
He highlights the challenges faced by groups that represent international companies in China. For decades, foreign chambers are at the forefront of globalization while the country has reopened, pleading reform and lobbying for more trade by dialogue and consultation. Each year, they have produced in -depth reports on behalf of their members who have made requests for change, in accordance with the expectations of a new internationalization.
They are now faced with an entirely different environment, marked by a more closed continent and a trade war that threatened to break companies in No Man’s Land. Although requests for change continue, there are few signs of global convergence between China and the West.
Commitment has also become more difficult. There have always been limits to the impact of this: many changes requested would in fact be equivalent to a reshuffle of the structure of the economy. But the difficulties are clearer.
Carlo d’Andrea, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, affirms that the commitment can still work, pointing to the example of “ambiguous” rules on cross -border data transfers that meet with chamber officials and European governments have helped to attack.
His room met the mayor of Shanghai and the leaders of three of his most important districts. But neither Europe nor the American room had a direct meeting with Chen Jining, the powerful secretary of the Shanghai party and a member of the Chinese Politburo of 24 people in Beijing. In a statement, the American House said it did not reveal a lack of commitment, since it generally responds to other representatives of the government.
The Danish room met Chen last August. Simon Lichtenberg, president, says that his organization does not “publish” his requirements and requests meetings with civil servants who have specific responsibilities for the problems she wishes to solve.
In the political system of China, it is not always easy to assess who put pressure, nor how the changes would be practically implemented. Asked about the effectiveness of the Shanghai American Chamber’s House meetings with officials, its president Jeffrey Lehman, dressed in a black tie just in front of the ball, took a philosophical tone. “Do you know Pascal’s bet?” He replied, in reference to the maxim that it is better to believe in God, whether or not there is.
“We cannot know with certainty if the people we are talking about have power and influence, but they could, and this possibility is a reason for us to continue to do what we do.”