Most US exporters who sell to China count the market as their top priority, HSBC survey shows

American exporters that are selling in China will continue to expand in the world’s most populous market, according to a survey by Europe’s largest bank, providing a measure of on-the-ground business reality that repudiates the basis for the US-China trade war.

More than half of the US companies that sell to China count the nation as among their top three destinations for business expansion in the next three to five years, according to HSBC’s survey in September of 1,205 companies. The sentiment was strongest in the US (58 per cent), and among manufacturers (51 per cent), the survey showed.

Technology and consultancy services, as well as consumer electronics and appliances are among the fastest-growing sectors for US companies, HSBC said.

“This dovetails with their strong belief that their specialist expertise and their competitive pricing will drive growth in sales in China,” said HSBC’s Asia-Pacific Head of Commercial Banking Stuart Tait, during an unveiling of the survey data at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The survey data is further evidence of how the trade war started by US Donald Trump’s administration contradicts the benefits of globalisation, including the business interests of American manufacturers and exporters, many of whom form the core of his constituency. In midterm congressional elections that closed overnight, American voters expressed their discontent with Trump on a range of issues, returning the opposition Democrats to reclaim the House of Representatives to provide a check on the president’s policies.

American exhibitors make up the third-largest congregation at the Shanghai expo, even if their country is not represented by a national arena, with 136 exhibitors showing more than 500 different types of products, according to the organiser’s website.