I just learned that there is such an organization. They have over 2000 members from 900 companies. Their web site is slow, but maybe all Chinese web sites are as my request goes through the censor.
They've been publishing White Papers for the past several years. This year's White Paper urges policy changes in both China and the US, as all previous papers have. The paper does point out that our exports to China are only half of those of Japan, even though our economy is four times larger. The Chamber feels that both federal and state governments should invest more in promoting US companies, particularly small and medium-size companies, but chambers all over the world say the same thing.
What is interesting is the claim that our visa policies and export controls are the primary reasons for our failure to obtain our fair share of exports. Apparently, our consulates there are understaffed and, since 9/11, the process of obtaining a visa has become so cumbersome that many Chinese just give up. The Chamber feels that our export control program can be changed so that it effectively guards our military assets and also makes exporting other assets easier.
At a time when our trade deficit has become a national problem, maybe we should listen to the Chamber. I would think that the costs of smoothing out the visa process would be money well spent.
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