U.S. Companies In China Worried Covid Surge Will Damage Prospects After Upbeat G20 Meeting

U.S. Companies In China Worried Covid Surge Will Damage Prospects After Upbeat G20 Meeting

November 25, 2022, Forbes

Sean Stein spoke to Forbes about how U.S. companies in China are worried that a surge in Covid cases in the country will hurt consumer and investment spending right after an upbeat G20 meeting thawed official contacts between the two sides.

I was talking to the China CEO of a large U.S. company and asking him what was on top of his problem list,” said Sean. “His answer was: No. 1 is consumer demand. No. 2 is demand from consumers. No. 3 is how much consumers want to buy. And then No. 4 is Covid — because that's driving all of it. No. 5 is consumer demand.”

Chinese consumers “are concerned about losing their jobs and concerned about the value of their house. They're concerned again that businesses aren’t investing and expanding. All of that is the problem,” Sean explained.

“Every day we look at those (Covid) numbers, and business community sighs. It's bad for business, it's bad for China, and it's bad in the sense this problem could go on longer,” Sean said.

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