1. Industries & Practices

China

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Chinese companies expanding into US markets, Chinese investors acquiring American assets, and high-net-worth Chinese families with US connections all face a legal landscape of unprecedented complexity.

Heightened regulatory scrutiny, evolving trade restrictions, aggressive enforcement actions, and an intricate web of federal, state, and local requirements demand advisors who combine deep substantive experience with genuine cultural fluency and an understanding of how business is done in the United States and China. 

Overview

ArentFox Schiff ‘s China Desk brings together cross-practice teams, including corporate, r international trade, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, litigation and arbitration, tax, immigration, and private wealth, to deliver seamless, strategic counsel tailored to the needs of Chinese clients at every stage of their US engagement. We organize our counsel around industry groups to encourage collaboration among complementary practice areas, ensuring that complex cross-border problems receive practical, interdisciplinary solutions. 

Speaking Your Language

Our attorneys include professionals with roots in China who are fluent in Chinese, both Cantonese and Mandarin, ensuring that communication is clear and cultural context is never lost. 

Our Focus

The United States-China commercial relationship remains one of the most dynamic and heavily regulated in the world. We routinely advise Chinese companies and individuals in aviation, fashion, green energy, manufacturing, life science and healthcare, real estate, technology, consumer goods, food and beverage, transportation, and many other sectors. Chinese companies and investors must navigate an evolving set of challenges (and opportunities) across multiple areas:

Trade Restrictions, Export Controls & Sanctions, Customs and Tariffs

The United States maintains targeted restrictions on transactions involving Chinese counterparties, particularly in advanced technology, critical infrastructure, biotech, and key supply chains. BIS export controls and OFAC sanctions designations continue to expand. Simultaneously, China has developed its own countermeasures, including the Anti-Foreign Sanctions List, Unreliable Entity List, and new export controls, creating two-way compliance obligations for companies and individuals with cross-border exposure. Chinese exporters and importers also face a complex US customs and tariff landscape, including elevated duties, anti-circumvention and transshipment scrutiny, and aggressive enforcement by the DOJ/DHS Trade Fraud Task Force. Tariff planning, classification strategy, and country-of-origin compliance are essential for companies moving goods across the Pacific. Additionally, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) creates a rebuttable, presumption barring goods connected to Xinjiang or UFLPA Entity List companies from US importation, with enforcement expanding across textiles, critical minerals, solar, and polysilicon sectors.

CFIUS & Investment Security

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews foreign acquisitions and investments, including in contexts without overt national security implications. Following the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act’s (FIRRMA) expansion of CFIUS authority to cover non-controlling investments, certain real estate transactions, and sensitive-data businesses, enforcement has intensified dramatically. Early, strategic engagement with the CFIUS process is essential.

IP Protection & Trade Secret Enforcement

Intellectual property remains central to United States-China commercial friction. Federal enforcement agencies maintain a significant focus on allegations of China-related trade-secret theft, particularly involving artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, biotech, and robotics. At the same time, Chinese companies with valuable IP portfolios require sophisticated prosecution, licensing, and enforcement strategies to protect their own innovations in the American market.

Cross-Border Investments & Transactions

Chinese companies and financial institutions pursuing cross-border investments, commercial relationships, and transactions in the United States face a range of interconnected legal, regulatory, and practical challenges. Acquisitions, joint ventures, greenfield investments, strategic partnerships, and other market-entry and expansion initiatives require careful coordination of transaction structuring, due diligence, financing, tax planning, corporate governance, and regulatory approvals from initial planning through closing and post-closing integration. Chinese manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and brands must also navigate unfamiliar US contracting practices and risk-allocation considerations when negotiating sourcing, supply, distribution, licensing, technology-transfer, and other commercial arrangements with US counterparties involving the movement of goods, services, technology, and capital across borders. Heightened regulatory scrutiny, differing business practices, and overlapping corporate, commercial, and regulatory requirements can complicate execution, making integrated planning essential to pursuing US opportunities efficiently and successfully.

Cross-Border Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Chinese companies and individuals increasingly encounter complex disputes in US courts, from commercial contract disagreements, shareholder and partnership conflicts, and product-liability defense to government enforcement proceedings and regulatory investigations. Navigating US discovery obligations, managing parallel proceedings across multiple jurisdictions, and developing effective dispute-resolution strategies are critical. At the same time, Chinese and US courts continue to develop the framework for recognizing and enforcing each other’s judgments and arbitral awards, with recent developments on both sides signaling a more flexible approach to cross-border enforcement.

Data Privacy & Cybersecurity

US regulatory risk increasingly overlaps data privacy, cybersecurity, sensitive personal data, shared IT infrastructure, and cross-border data flows with sanctions and export controls. Chinese companies with operations or customers in the United States must navigate a patchwork of federal and state privacy laws, including the CCPA/CPRA, sector-specific regimes, and emerging AI governance requirements, while simultaneously complying with China’s own data-protection and cross-border transfer rules. Integrated compliance planning is essential for companies managing data across both jurisdictions.

Legal & Regulatory Compliance for US Operations

Chinese companies with an established US business presence must manage compliance obligations across several key areas that differ significantly from the regulatory environment in China. These include US employment law (anti-discrimination, wage-and-hour, employee classification, and work-authorization requirements), corporate governance, multi-jurisdictional tax compliance (including transfer pricing, FBAR/FATCA reporting, and state-by-state sales tax obligations), data privacy rules, industry-specific licensing and permits, sanctions screening and export-control compliance, and anti-corruption programs satisfying FCPA requirements under heightened US Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement. Integrated, proactive compliance across all of these areas is essential to protecting both the US operations and the overseas parent companies.

Wealth Planning, Tax & Immigration

High-net-worth Chinese individuals and families relocating to the United States, or holding US assets, beneficiaries, or immigration objectives, need coordinated cross-border estate and wealth planning that bridges US and Chinese legal regimes. Careful attention should be given to pre-immigration planning to manage US gift, estate, and income tax exposure before a client becomes a US taxpayer or long-term resident, including green card and residency timing considerations that intersect with tax status. For clients with ties to both countries, we structure and hold overseas assets (including foreign trusts, offshore accounts, and real property abroad) in ways designed to minimize US tax and reporting burdens while remaining compliant with FBAR, FATCA, and other US disclosure obligations. Our counsel also addresses gift and estate tax exposure on US-situs assets, FIRPTA considerations for real estate holdings, foreign-trust and foreign-grantor-trust compliance, and evolving EB-5 investor-visa requirements We design multi-generational wealth-transfer strategies tailored to families with US and Chinese footprints, helping clients move assets and beneficiaries across borders efficiently. This work is high-value and time-sensitive, particularly where immigration timing determines tax outcomes. We also advise on the corporate structuring that often underlies these cross-border estates, helping clients organize holding entities, family investment vehicles, and closely held business interests in ways that align with their tax and succession objectives across multiple jurisdictions.

Who Do We Help

  • Chinese companies seeking to enter or expand within the US market.
  • Chinese companies with established business presence and operations in the United States. 
  • Chinese businesses managing cross‑border distribution, manufacturing, and supply chain relationships in the United States.
  • High net worth individuals and their families with ties to China.
  • Chinese investors and acquirers pursuing acquisitions, joint ventures, and other investments in US businesses.
  • Chinese companies with valuable US intellectual property portfolios requiring protection and enforcement.
  • Chinese companies and individuals involved in commercial litigation, arbitration, regulatory investigations, or cross-border dispute resolution in US courts and other forums
  • Chinese manufacturers and brands facing product-liability or consumer-protection claims in the United States.

How Do We Help

Our China Desk delivers integrated, business-first counsel that addresses both opportunity and risk across every stage of a client’s U.S. engagement. We help Chinese clients: 

  • Enter US markets through acquisitions, joint ventures, greenfield investments, and strategic partnerships—with full regulatory, tax, and immigration support. 
  • Navigate regulatory complexity by managing CFIUS filings, export-control compliance, sanctions screening, customs and tariff planning, and supply-chain due diligence. 
  • Protect and monetize intellectual property through US patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution, licensing, trade-secret protection, and ITC/Section 337 enforcement. 
  • Resolve disputes efficiently in US federal and state courts, before international arbitral tribunals, and through cross-border judgment and award enforcement. 
  • Defend against product-liability and regulatory claims with experienced trial teams who handle single-plaintiff and class-action litigation, consumer-safety compliance, and crisis response for Chinese manufacturers and brands. 
  • Plan and preserve wealth with pre-immigration tax planning, estate and gift-tax structuring, foreign-trust compliance, family-office governance, and investor-visa strategy. 
  • Restructure and invest in distressed assets using Chapter 11, Chapter 15, cross-border insolvency protocols, and distressed-acquisition strategies. 
  • Achieve US operational compliance with tailored guidance on employment law, corporate governance, tax reporting, data privacy, licensing, sanctions screening, and anti-corruption programs, addressing the full range of regulatory obligations unique to Chinese-owned US operations. 
  • Maintain compliance in the United States and China by integrating regulatory requirements from both jurisdictions into unified business operations.

FAQs

What legal issues should Chinese companies consider before entering the US market?

Chinese companies entering the United States often encounter legal considerations spanning corporate structuring, taxation, employment, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, and foreign investment review. Depending on the industry and transaction, additional issues may include export controls, sanctions regulations, customs requirements, data privacy obligations, and CFIUS review. Early assessment of these issues can help companies evaluate regulatory requirements and support informed business planning.

When does a Chinese investment in a US business require CFIUS review?

CFIUS jurisdiction extends beyond traditional acquisitions and may apply to certain non-controlling investments, real estate transactions, and investments involving sensitive technologies, critical infrastructure, or sensitive personal data. Certain transactions can also face scrutiny simply due to geographic proximity to sensitive US government facilities. Whether a filing is required depends on the facts of the transaction, the nature of the business, and the degree of foreign involvement. Evaluating potential CFIUS issues early in the transaction process can help identify regulatory considerations before closing.

How can Chinese companies protect their intellectual property in the United States?

Protection strategies may include securing US patents, trademarks, and copyrights; implementing trade-secret protection measures; negotiating licensing and technology-transfer arrangements; and enforcing intellectual property rights when disputes arise. The appropriate approach depends on the nature of the technology, brand assets, business objectives, and the company’s US operations.

What compliance obligations apply to Chinese-owned businesses operating in the United States?

Chinese-owned US operations may need to address a range of federal, state, and local requirements, including employment laws, corporate governance obligations, beneficial ownership reporting, tax compliance, sanctions screening, export controls, anti-corruption requirements, industry-specific licensing, and data privacy regulations. Compliance obligations vary based on the company’s industry, structure, workforce, and business activities.

How do US sanctions, export controls, and Chinese countermeasures affect cross-border business operations?

Organizations with exposure to both jurisdictions may be required to navigate overlapping and sometimes competing regulatory regimes. US export controls and sanctions restrictions can affect transactions, technology transfers, customers, suppliers, and business partners, while Chinese countermeasures and export control laws may create additional obligations. Businesses with cross-border operations often benefit from evaluating compliance requirements in both jurisdictions as part of a coordinated strategy.

What data privacy and cybersecurity issues arise for companies operating in both the United States and China?

Companies that collect, store, transfer, or process personal information across borders may need to comply with US federal and state privacy laws, industry-specific requirements, cybersecurity obligations, and China’s data protection and cross-border transfer rules. Legal considerations often include data governance, cybersecurity planning, incident response, and the management of cross-border data flows.

Can Chinese companies enforce judgments or arbitral awards in the United States?

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards in the United States depend on the relevant legal framework, the jurisdiction involved, and the specific facts of the matter. Courts may evaluate issues such as applicable treaties, reciprocity principles, procedural fairness, and public policy considerations. Companies involved in cross-border disputes should assess enforcement options as part of their broader dispute-resolution strategy.

What should high-net-worth Chinese individuals consider before relocating to or investing in the United States?

High-net-worth individuals and families may face US tax, estate planning, reporting, real estate, trust, and immigration considerations that can differ significantly from those in China. Depending on their goals and holdings, planning may involve evaluating gift and estate tax exposure, foreign trust reporting obligations, pre-immigration tax planning, and investor or employment-based immigration options.