Frosty US ties with China worry firms

Chinese workers push a cart loaded with fire extinguishers past a bench painted with the American flag outside a fashion boutique selling US brand clothing at the capital city's popular shopping mall in Beijing. [AP]

American companies want President Donald Trump’s negotiations with Beijing to win them real improvements in their access to Chinese markets, not just a smaller overall US trade deficit, a business group said Tuesday.

Companies that responded to a questionnaire last week want an end to Chinese pressure to hand over technology, unequal enforcement of laws and other chronic problems, said Tim Stratford, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. If not, he said, their losses in a tariff war “will be a tremendous waste.”