The Chinese market is an important foundation for American companies to maintain global competitiveness (economic perspective)

Recently, the US China Business Council released the 2026 China Business Environment Survey report. The report shows that 80% of surveyed American companies consider the Chinese market to be "very important" or "important" to their global competitiveness, a significant increase from 66% in 2025; Up to 95% of companies believe that doing business in China has a significance ranging from "certain" to "very important" for maintaining their global competitiveness. The report previously released by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China also showed that 75% of the surveyed American companies plan to reinvest in China in 2026. These numbers reveal an important fact: the Chinese market is not an option for American companies, but an important foundation for maintaining their global competitiveness.

The dividends of China's super large market and the complete industrial ecosystem are the fundamental reasons why American companies value the Chinese market. From an economic perspective, the global layout of multinational corporations follows the principle of comparative advantage. Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory contributes more than half of the group's global production capacity and serves as its largest export center radiating to the international market; Apple relies on China's industrial layout and market to earn substantial profits; The profits of such consumer giants as Starbucks, Nike, Wal Mart and so on are largely from the Chinese market. The choices of these multinational giants are not accidental. China has a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of over 400 million. Its economy maintains stable growth, making it the world's most promising consumer market and the most resilient growth engine. For American companies, leaving China not only means losing a market, but also significantly weakening the scale profitability of their global business.

China has the only United Nations industrial category in the world -41 major categories, 207 medium categories, and 666 minor categories, with a complete industrial system and sound infrastructure. This enables foreign companies, including American ones, to invest in China and achieve efficient production by reducing production costs and shortening delivery cycles. Data shows that even under pressure from supply chain adjustments, over 80% of companies in Huamei still achieve profitability. The reason is simple: Made in China means shorter delivery cycles, lower overall costs, and more stable supporting capabilities. Any form of 'backup' or 'transfer' is difficult to replicate this efficiency advantage at the same scale.

If a complete industrial chain provides current competitiveness for American companies, then China's active cultivation of new quality productivity and provision of innovative experimental scenarios for global new technologies will accumulate development potential for American companies' global layout. The emergence of new quality productivity has spurred technological breakthroughs, factor restructuring, and industrial upgrading. In the "2025 Global Innovation Index Report" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China ranks tenth and is one of the fastest progressing countries in over a decade. More importantly, the Chinese market has a high acceptance of new technologies and products, and consumer trends are rapidly upgrading, providing an ideal innovation testing environment for American companies.

Taking AI (Artificial Intelligence) as an example: The United States leads in large models, while China has significant advantages in hardware manufacturing, energy efficiency, and large-scale application implementation. The development of the AI industry in the United States cannot be separated from China's talent, market, and supply chain. The cutting-edge technology of the US headquarters combined with the localization and adaptation of the Chinese team can achieve global synchronous release and iteration. The global market share of China's new three types of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells exceeds 60%, and the abundant green power resources also provide solid support for computing power. American companies achieve collaborative innovation of "local research and development, local application" in China through "underlying technology+global ecology+industry experience", which not only earns profits, but also uses the Chinese market to polish technology and export successful experience to the world.

The three advantages of the Chinese market mentioned above - a super large scale market, a complete industrial chain, and innovative experimental scenarios - cannot be sustained without stable institutional expectations. Currently, the "constructive strategic stability relationship between China and the United States" provides a new positioning for the bilateral relationship - cooperation as the mainstay, moderate competition, controllable differences, and promising peace. In addition, the newly established communication mechanism between the China US Trade Council and the Investment Council has made it safer, more predictable, and more confident for American companies to invest in China, daring to continue investing technology, production capacity, and funds in the Chinese market. The stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China US relations requires joint efforts from all aspects of the two countries. The rational business community has already voted with their feet: in China, for the world, it is still a pragmatic choice for American companies to maintain competitiveness.

(The author is Wang Zhimin, a researcher at the National Institute of Opening Up at the University of International Business and Economics and the director of the Institute of Globalization and Chinese Modernization.)