US Firms Advocate Harder Line on China’s Trade Policies

(R-L) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other Trump Administration officials sit down with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (L), Central Bank Governor Yi Gang (2nd L) and other Chinese vice ministers and senior officials for negotiations in the Diplomatic Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 30, 2019. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

BEIJING—Frustrated U.S. businesses can no longer be counted on as a “positive anchor” in U.S.-China relations, a top U.S. business lobby said on April 17, arguing any deal to end trade tensions must address structural problems in China’s economic system.

Long considered the ballast in a relationship fraught with geopolitical frictions, the U.S. business community in China in recent years has advocated a harder line on Beijing’s trade policies.