The Trump administration’s export controls, sanctions and tariffs are hurting American firms in China without achieving their policy goals of blocking critical technology or reviving US manufacturing, according to a new business survey.
“US export controls are not calibrated to empower American companies … Instead, they are forcing buyers to go elsewhere,” the US-China Business Council said on Wednesday, releasing the results of its annual member survey.
“Export controls are less effective when Chinese or foreign competitors can readily backfill.”
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The report said that nearly half of the 175 respondents to the survey were affected by US export controls and sanctions, with around 61 per cent of those firms losing sales to Chinese competitors – a rise of five percentage points from 2025.
“The lesson isn’t that export controls aren’t important, it’s that they need to be strategic, they need to be calibrated, and they need to be fluid enough to adapt to global changes in technology,” council president Sean Stein said.
Over 72 per cent of the surveyed companies were also hit by the tit-for-tat tariffs unleashed by both countries, with close to 40 per cent of the affected businesses losing sales as a result of the US duties.