American Business and the China Trade Embargo in the 1950s

Abstract

The Chinese Communist revolution and the Korean War turned U.S.-China commercial relations into a political issue inseparable from the question of diplomatic recognition. The American business community supported the U.S. policy of trade embargo. After some American allies relaxed the China trade control system in 1957, many business people asked for a reexamination of the embargo policy. Their effort failed to achieve concrete change, for they could not overcome the strong opposition from the unsympathetic government officials and China lobby. The little economic inducement presented by the China market also discouraged American business from vigorously pursuing the issue.