License delays taking toll on US companies

Companies from the United States surveyed by the US-China Business Council have reported massive losses in exports and a decline in their global market share due to monthslong delays over the US export licensing regime, which they said was slow and allowed foreign countries to fulfill orders much more quickly.

"Monthslong licensing delays are costing the United States billions of dollars in exports and eroding American market share globally," the USCBC found in a flash survey of companies released on Tuesday.

The findings from the survey, conducted in July by the nonprofit association, involved 31 companies from a variety of industries including technology, manufacturing, energy and healthcare.

According to the findings, 73 percent of the surveyed companies said license delays led to lost sales to Chinese competitors, and 64 percent of the companies said they lost market share in China.

Additionally, the "export licenses are for items that are already available in China from Chinese or international suppliers, effectively sidelining American companies for no strategic gain", the report said.

The report comes as trade issues over technology and restrictions resurfaced between the US and China over the past few months.

In July, the US imposed new Section 301 tariffs on goods from China and dozens of other trading partners at differing rates, over allegations of a lack of enforcement of "forced labor" ‌bans.

The US Federal Communications Commission has also unveiled a ban on new foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters.

At least 95 percent of those polled said that long license review times were their most common problem.

Around 71 percent experienced delays in receiving a license to specifically export items to China.

The survey said that "poorly calibrated US export controls weaken American companies in China", which gave market share to foreign competitors while "reducing the profits available for research and development".

The USCBC report found that when the order is filled more quickly by a non-US competitor, US companies incur huge losses. The companies said the extended processing times also made them look like unreliable suppliers.

For some, this led to billions of dollars in losses. "More than one-third of companies, or 36 percent, have faced at least tens of millions of dollars in losses from delayed licenses, with multiple companies suffering hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in losses," the survey said.

The survey uncovered a series of other major issues faced by US companies while navigating licenses. These ranged from unreliable communication with licensing officers to unclear policy interpretations.

Some companies described being "unable to reach licensing officers by phone, confusion over the scope of the Foreign Direct Product Rule, and ad hoc actions that bypass standard processes".

Another point of confusion was the "Affiliates Rule", which extends export restrictions to parties which are at least 50 percent owned by entities on the Entity List or Military End-User List.

It was issued as an interim final rule in September 2025 and took immediate effect, but has since been suspended until November, leaving many companies in limbo, the report said.

Some companies added that they had faced unjustified export license rejections.

The USCBC said that at least 66 percent of the companies have had licenses pending for at least three months, exceeding the US Department of Commerce's statutory requirement to process applications within 90 days.

Meanwhile, 31 percent have had licenses pending for one to two years, the survey found.

That stands in contrast to previous US administrations, which 56 percent of the companies said took one to three months to review comparable export licenses.

The US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security showed in reports to Congress that the average processing time for export licenses slowed to an average of 62 days in 2025, compared to 38 days in 2023.

"The facts are clear: delayed license approvals enable Chinese and international companies to backfill American products," the report said.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com