From the entertainment industry to semiconductors, Chinese companies have become more aggressive in forming investment deals in the United States this year. Many companies continue their operational expansions in the U.S., while others venture on takeover investments.
China's plastic manufacturer giant Fuling Plastic is one of the Chinese companies that proactively invest across the cities of the U.S. Fast-food chains have been the biggest clients of this company for eight years. The firm manufactures the products locally, and then ships them to America.
In 2015, the company turned an 80,000-foot warehouse into their straw processing plant. Gilbert Lee, who directs the one-year-old Fuling Plastic factory in Allentown, Pa., said that a "few hundred million" straws are manufactured every year. That's enough to circle the world one and a half times, according to Lee.
"First of all, a lot of our customers really like the fact that our products are made in the U.S.," said Lee.
This business strategy of Fuling Plastic is an advantage to the company, as it reduces freight costs, production and delivery time to clients in the U.S.
Fuling Plastic is just one of the many Chinese companies that are aiming to expand their client base by coming into the U.S. Anbang, a Beijing-based insurance company acquired the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for almost $2 billion in 2014.
The U.S. expects a record-breaking $30 billion worth of direct investments from Chinese firms this year. The projection also means more jobs for Americans. Currently, about 90,000 U.S. citizens are direct employees of Chinese firms, as reported by NPR.
"Our traditional trading partners like the U.K., Canada and so forth are the really big investors," said Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute of International Economics. However, he believes that the U.S. will see significant Chinese investments due to the positive economic growth in Beijing.