[Salon] US export controls achieving no strategic gain but hurting American firms, survey finds

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US export controls achieving no strategic gain but hurting American firms, survey finds

US’ export-control licensing regime costs billions in lost exports, with items ‘already available in China’ from variety of other suppliers

SCMP

Nayan Sethin Washington

12 Aug 2026

The Trump administration’s export-control licensing regime is achieving little strategic benefit while costing the United States billions of dollars in lost exports and undermining American companies’ global market share, according to a new business survey.

“Months-long licensing delays are costing the United States billions of dollars in exports and eroding American market share globally,” the US-China Business Council (USCBC) found in a flash survey of companies conducted in July.

The survey also found that most of the pending export licences are for items that are “already available in China from Chinese or international suppliers – effectively sidelining American companies for no strategic gain”.

“Export controls are important, but if they are not calibrated, then they have the reverse effect,” Sean Stein, president of the USCBC, told the South China Morning Post.

“They undermine US competitiveness, undermine US technological leadership while doing nothing to protect national security.”

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The USCBC is a non-profit association of around 270 American companies that conduct business in China. The latest flash survey covered 31 companies from the technology, industrial and manufacturing, energy, and healthcare sectors.

The report comes amid ongoing tit-for-tat escalations between Washington and Beijing, as tensions over trade and technology continue to strain economic ties.

The US has imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports, while both countries have expanded export controls and other measures targeting companies.

The retaliatory actions have added uncertainty for businesses operating between the world’s two largest economies and complicated efforts to stabilise bilateral economic relations.

The survey said that “poorly calibrated US export controls weaken American companies in China”, ceding market share to foreign competitors while “reducing the profits available for research and development”.

“This diminishes America’s ability to innovate and undermines US economic security,” the report noted.

The most common challenge, cited by 95 per cent of companies, was lengthy licence reviews.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents reported delays in obtaining licences to export goods to China. Two-thirds said their applications had been pending for at least three months – exceeding the US Commerce Department’s statutory 90-day processing requirement.

Nearly a third, or 31 per cent, said their applications had been pending for one to two years.

The delays mark a sharp departure from previous practice, with 56 per cent of companies saying comparable export licence applications were reviewed within one to three months before the current administration.

The survey added that prolonged delays are eroding confidence in export control agencies, with only 30 per cent of respondents saying the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) follows its established procedures and timelines to a great or moderate extent.

The BIS said it took an average of 62 days to process export licence applications in 2025, 24 days longer than in 2023, according to its annual reports to the US Congress. The agency also processed 20 per cent fewer applications last year than it did in 2023.

The survey also found that most of the pending US export licences are for items that are “already available in China from Chinese or international suppliers”. Photo: Shutterstock

More than 80 per cent of surveyed companies said their pending licence applications covered items for which comparable alternatives were available from Chinese and international suppliers.

“By failing to account for foreign availability, regulators are handicapping America’s most innovative companies and ceding ground to competitors without meaningfully advancing US national security,” the report highlighted.

The delays have already translated into lost business, with 73 per cent of companies reporting lost sales to Chinese competitors and 55 per cent reporting lost sales to international competitors. A further 64 per cent said the delays resulted in lost market share in China.

“Once you’re engineered out of the supply chain, those sales don’t come back, those exports don’t come back, those jobs don’t come back,” Stein added.

US goods exports to China declined by more than a quarter in 2025 to US$106.3 billion, as total two-way goods trade between the countries stood at an estimated US$414.7 billion, according to figures from the US Trade Representative.

Stein called the expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month “enormously important” to “solidify the strategic stability”.

“One thing that we have seen is the single most important factor to stabilising the relationship has been leader-to-leader contact,” he said, adding that the engagement “only moves forward when the two leaders meet”.

“The business community is really looking forward to this meeting because we are hoping it will bring even more clarity to both the state of the truce and to help eliminate some of the bottlenecks in trade between the two countries,” he stressed.

Nayan Seth

Nayan Seth is a Washington-based multimedia journalist and policy research analyst with previous professional experience in China and India. He covers US politics, US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region and US-China-India relations.