According to a report on August 12, a new business survey from the US-China Business Council (USCBC) found that the export licensing regime implemented under the Trump administration has delivered virtually no strategic gains — instead, it has cost the United States billions of dollars in export revenue and eroded the global market share of American companies. The survey noted that the export goods stuck in approval limbo “are already available in China from a variety of other suppliers.”
The survey concluded that “miscalibrated US export controls are weakening American companies operating in China,” handing market share to foreign competitors while “reducing the profits available for R&D,” which in turn undermines America’s capacity for innovation and harms its economic security.
USCBC represents more than 270 American member companies operating in China, and this survey covered 31 firms across the technology, industrial, manufacturing, energy, and healthcare sectors.
The rapid survey, conducted in July, found that the most commonly cited challenge was “lengthy license reviews,” mentioned by 95% of respondents. 71% reported delays in obtaining export licenses for China, two-thirds said their applications had been waiting for at least three months — exceeding the Commerce Department’s statutory 90-day processing window. Nearly a third (31%) said their applications had been pending for one to two years.
These delays stand in stark contrast to past practice: 56% of firms said that before the current administration took office, similar export license applications were typically reviewed within one to three months.
More critically, over 80% of surveyed companies said that the products covered by their pending license applications already had comparable alternatives from Chinese and international suppliers. The report stressed that “regulators’ failure to account for the existence of foreign supply channels is constraining America’s most innovative companies, ceding ground to competitors while doing little to advance US national security.”
These delays have translated into concrete business losses: 73% of firms reported losing orders to Chinese competitors due to delays, 55% said their orders were taken by international rivals, and 64% said the delays had reduced their market share in China.
USCBC President Sean Stein didn’t hide his concern in an interview: “Once you’re removed from a supply chain, those orders don’t come back. Those exports don’t come back. Those jobs don’t come back.”
He added: “Export controls matter, but when not properly calibrated, they become counterproductive. They weaken America’s competitiveness, undermine US technological leadership, and do nothing to protect national security.”