Despite taking a serious hit from COVID-19 lockdowns, China’s economy has proved resilient. It has not, however, fully bounced back: some activities, especially in the service sector, simply cannot be revived. Yet, unlike most of the world, China seems unlikely to become mired in a long recession, not least because of its rapid digital transformation.

Although many societies aspire to provide equal opportunities for everyone, that is easier said than done. People born into different economic and social statuses have unequal educational or financial starting points. This often leads to very different career and life opportunities.

The e-commerce industry in both the US and China appears to be unstoppable, but how do the companies in both countries compare?

China’s new e-commerce law strives to protect consumers and intellectual property but comes at a price for the daigou business - personal shoppers who purchase quality and luxury goods overseas and re-sell them to customers in China - which is estimated to be worth up to $100 billion in sales.

The development and application of innovative new financial technology, or “fintech,” is upending traditional ways of banking and financing, and beginning to transform how businesses, industries and individuals interact. But beyond the multi-million-dollar headline-grabbing investments and acquisitions, what does fintech actually mean for the people of China and the United States?

China’s digital economy is a force to be reckoned with. The country now accounts for 42% of global e-commerce, boasts one-third of the world’s most successful tech startups, and conducts 11 times more mobile payments than the United States per year. But there are major challenges ahead.

Chinese consumers have embraced facial identification and mobile payments to buy everything from fast food to sex toys, drawn towards the efficiency and the novelty of semi-automated stores.

Alibaba’s recent “Singles’ Day” extravaganza brought in $25.4 billion, cementing it as the world's biggest shopping event. The Singles’ Day splurge was triple the $5.9bn spent by U.S. shoppers across Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving last year. Why has the relatively new “Singles’ Day” grown to dwarf its American counterparts? The answer lies in China’s burgeoning e-commerce market.

In a February 24th speech, U.S. President Trump made his strategy for trade policy clear. The U.S. will negotiate bilateral, rather than regional or multilateral agreements, and favor U.S. producers rather than market forces. Trump’s approach to trade policy means radical change for the world’s longtime leader of efforts to reduce global trade barriers with trade agreements.

The rapid development of China-U.S. e-commerce is challenging traditional assumptions about how international business is conducted, but there still is a lack of understanding among foreign brands and retailers about what cross-border e-commerce is and how they can leverage it to sell their products to Chinese consumers.