China state media touts US-China business ties as 'not zero-sum' after summit

Chinese state media moved swiftly after the US-China summit to highlight business cooperation between the two countries, arguing that both sides should work together to grow their markets.

The coverage is seen as part of Beijing's broader effort to manage tensions with Washington and underscore the need for expanded cooperation — using concrete examples of corporate exchange to push the message that the two economies are not locked in a zero-sum competition.

The Global Times, an English-language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party's People's Daily, reported Friday that Chinese companies are testing their competitiveness in the US market while American firms are expanding research and development and localizing production in China.

"Chinese and American companies are not facing a binary, zero-sum game in many sectors," the paper said, giving prominent play to experts who argued that deeper cooperation could build a more complete and complementary industrial chain.

The Global Times serves as one of China's main state-media outlets for communicating the government's positions on diplomatic and security issues to foreign audiences.

Particularly notable is the timing: the article was published immediately after Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump held a summit in Washington on Thursday (local time), and is widely seen as a follow-up message reinforcing Xi's remarks at the meeting about the need for bilateral cooperation.

The paper highlighted the continued push by Chinese companies into the US market, spotlighting Mindray, a Shenzhen-based medical device maker.

Mindray's TEX20 series of point-of-care ultrasound devices has recently been adopted by the UCSF Fresno Clinical Technology and Simulation Center at the University of California, San Francisco, according to the report. The devices are equipped with AI-assisted functions used in cardiac imaging and other applications.

The paper also drew attention to gains in the consumer goods market. Chinese fashion brand Urban Revivo opened a flagship store in New York's SoHo neighborhood in February, while Pop Mart — the Chinese toymaker known for its Labubu character figurines — saw its sales in the Americas surpass 6.8 billion yuan ($1.02 billion) last year, a 748.4 percent jump from the previous year. The number of Pop Mart's physical stores in the Americas grew from 22 at the end of 2024 to 64 last year.

The paper also emphasized the extent to which American companies are localizing their operations in China.

According to the Global Times, GE HealthCare opened a new R&D center in Tianjin, China, in December 2025. The facility is the company's only system-level MRI research base outside the United States.

Of the more than 50 products GE HealthCare showcased at the China International Medical Equipment Fair held in Shanghai in April, more than 60 percent were developed by its China R&D team and 95 percent were produced in China.

Kimberly-Clark, the American consumer goods company, added six automated production lines this year at its Nanjing factory, which produces about 5.5 billion diapers annually and exports them to South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, as well as within China.

American golf brand Malbon has established a design and creative unit in Shenzhen to strengthen ties with Chinese suppliers and consumers, the Global Times said.

Citing a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, the paper said 45 percent of the companies surveyed ranked China as their top investment destination globally, and 75 percent said they planned to reinvest in China this year.

The Global Times also highlighted ongoing cooperation between companies from both countries in advanced manufacturing. According to the report, US conglomerate 3M last month launched a joint laboratory with Chinese display maker BOE, while US logistics company FedEx introduced an AI-based robotic sorting system at its Guangzhou cargo hub, developed jointly with Chinese robotics firms and engineers. The system, validated in China, has since been expanded to other markets.

Song Guoyou, deputy director of Fudan University's Center for American Studies, told the Global Times that "competition is a normal feature of a market economy," adding that rules-based competition would drive innovation and improve operational efficiency for companies on both sides.

Through the summit, the two countries agreed to extend their trade truce — which had been set to expire Nov. 10 — by two months to Jan. 10, reducing the immediate risk of renewed trade tensions including the reimposition of steep tariffs.

China said the two sides had reached a "new trade agreement" through the summit, though specific details have yet to be disclosed.