Wuhan, China - Consulate General of the United States

President Obama announced the National Export Initiative (NEI) two years ago, with the goal of doubling exports by 2014.  U.S. embassies are committed to supporting U.S. companies to start exporting or grow their exports to China.  In this section, you’ll find a quick description of China as an export market and some suggestions for getting started.

Getting Started

Below are practical steps a potential investor (or exporter) can follow to make best use of U.S. government services.

1.  Visit the export.gov page on China (http://export.gov/china/) to get an overview of economic conditions and opportunities.  Access the U.S. Commercial Service Market Research Library containing more than 100,000 industry and country-specific market reports, authored by our specialists working in overseas posts.

The Library Includes: 

• Country Commercial Guides (read latest “Doing Business In” guides)
• Industry Overviews
• Market Updates
• Multilateral Development Bank Reports
• Best Markets
• Industry/Regional Reports
  
  

2.  Contact in-country business support organizations. 

• American Chamber of Commerce (Beijing)
• American Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai)
• American Chamber of Commerce (South China)
• American Chamber of Commerce (Southwest China)
• U.S.-China Business Council

3.  Make use of business matchmaking services.

4.  Subscribe to our embassy Twitter feed

Potential investors: Getting Started

If you are considering investment in China, here are some steps you may wish to consider as you get started:

• Register with the U.S. Embassy – If you are planning a visit to consider investment, let us know by sending an email to the contact addresses on this page.
• Visit host country resources, such as Invest in China: http://www.fdi.gov.cn/pub/FDI_EN/default.htm
• Contact local U.S. business support organizations. Please see above for links to local U.S. business support organizations.
• Subscribe to our embassy Twitter feed

Current Investors and Exporters: Staying Connected

If you are a current U.S. investor or exporter in China, the U.S Embassy wants to stay in touch. Here are a few steps you can take to keep the channels of communication open:

• Register with the U.S. Embassy – If you are active in China, let us know by sending an email to the contact addresses on this page.
• Add us to your mailing lists – we are always happy to stay informed
• Subscribe to our embassy Twitter feed
• Set up a meeting with our economic or commercial team to discuss any issues that arise

Working in China

In this section you will find information on business visas, travel advisories, and anti-corruption tools.

Business Visas

For information on obtaining a visa to visit China, visit the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. website: http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/

Travel Advisories

Make sure to check the current State Department travel advisory http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html for China

FCPA

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is an important anti-corruption tool designed to discourage corrupt business practices in favor of free and fair markets.  The FCPA prohibits promising, offering, giving or authorizing giving anything of value to a foreign government official where the purpose is to obtain or retain business.  These prohibitions apply to U.S. persons, both individuals and companies, and companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges. The statute also requires companies publicly traded in the U.S. to keep accurate books and records and implement appropriate internal controls.   

More information on the FCPA can be found here:  http://www.fcpa.us/

A party to a transaction seeking to know whether a proposed course of conduct would violate the FCPA can take advantage of the opinion procedure established by the statue.  Within 30 days of receiving a description of a proposed course of conduct in writing, the Attorney General will provide the party with a written opinion on whether the proposed conduct would violate the FCPA.  Not only do opinions provide the requesting party with a rebuttable presumption that the conduct does not violate the FCPA, but DOJ publishes past opinions which can provide guidance for other companies facing similar situations.

More information on the DOJ opinion procedure can be found here: http://www.morganlewis.com/documents/fcpa/
FCPAOpinionProcedureReleases.pdf (PDF 136 KB)