U.S. says its firms could deem Chinese business environment 'too risky'

Commerce Sec. Raimondo warns U.S. firms Shanghai business could be "too risky" without regulatory changes.

Business in China could become "too risky" for U.S. firms without changes to the regulatory environment, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned on August 30 as she wrapped up a visit to the world's second-largest economy.

Speaking on her fourth day in China and after several rounds of talks with officials as well as with U.S. firms, Ms. Raimondo said she had raised "tough issues" with local counterparts.

The business environment in China "has to be predictable, there has to be a level playing field, there has to be due process, there has to be transparency", she told a press conference near Shanghai.

"U.S. business needs to see some action taken to address these issues, otherwise they will deem it as too risky," she said.

Ms. Raimondo is the latest in a series of senior U.S. officials to visit Beijing, as both sides seek to defuse tensions across a range of security and economic issues that have been at their highest levels in years.

"I raised the tough issues like subsidies, like China's non-market practices, like raids on U.S. firms, like intellectual property theft," Ms. Raimondo said.

She also said she had raised the alleged hacking of her email by China-based actors with Beijing officials.