One possible effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China is the Chinese government’s decision to release five employees of a U.S. research firm, Mintz Group. Two years ago, China detained the employees apparently because the firm had been investigating the use of slave labor in the Xinjiang region of China (“China frees staff of US consulting firm after 2-year detention,” Radio Free Asia, March 25, 2025).
The detention of Mintz Group staff turned out to be the beginning of a sweeping crackdown on consultancy and due diligence firms, including Bain & Company’s office in Shanghai and Capvision Partners.
At that time, foreign firms with business in China expressed concern that the crackdown damaged investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.
“We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” Mintz Group said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday….
“China remains committed to expanding high-level opening-up of market, improving the business environment and welcoming more multinational companies to deepen their investment in China,” China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng said at the China Development Forum in Beijing
Perhaps China believes that the foreign companies have learned their lesson: don’t investigate Chinese tyranny.
Or perhaps, as suggested by the timing—the Mintz Group prisoners were released “a day after China’s top officials vowed to welcome more multinational companies”—the Party is eager to “stabilize foreign investment amid US tariff impacts” and realizes that too much arbitrary imprisoning of employees of foreign businesses tends to discourage those businesses from coming to China.
Concern about the risks of working in China is often rationalized away by foreign businessmen determined to be obtuse when it comes to moral or political matters. Even so, the more often the government arbitrarily detains employees of foreign firms, the more likely it is that foreign firms will get the idea that they should avoid China.
“Unapproved” work
Another way to discourage foreign investment is to fine companies for doing “unapproved” work, an easy enough trap to fall into in a totalitarian country. In July 2023, “China fined U.S. firm Mintz Group about $1.5 million for doing ‘unapproved statistical work’…after a raid of its Beijing office sparked worries about China’s openness to foreign investment. The Beijing’s Bureau of Statistics said in a ruling dated July 5, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that the firm had carried out ‘foreign-related statistical investigations’ without seeking and obtaining approvals.”
Even if the rate of arbitrary imprisonment of foreign businessmen declines for now, foreign firms and other organizations should still avoid China. For one thing, the government’s thinking about how important it is to assuage the fears of foreigners may change the day after tomorrow.
Also see:
StoptheCCP.org: Foreign Firms Leaving China: Exodus or Just Plans for Exodus?
