Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China) will increase their reinvestment budget in China this year by 37.9 percent over 2018, given high investment return last year, according to the chamber on Monday in Guangzhou.

The chamber's press conference comes as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a delay in the tariff increase on Chinese imports. Harley Seyedin, President of AmCham South China, responded with optimism, “I think much of the harder issues have been negotiated and discussed. There will be an agreement. I think the future is going to be good. It has to be. There's no other choice.”

The AmCham South China released two business reports: 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China and 2019 Special Report on the State of Business in South China. Two hundred and forty Chinese and foreign companies participated in the survey, including those from the U.S., EU, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand.

The impact of China-U.S. trade friction remains a primary question. The survey was conducted during the 90-day truce in trade tensions. The 2019 Special Report indicates that American companies in the study had been hurt by the trade war, as 54 percent of them claimed to have lost market share to their foreign rivals. Meanwhile, only 33 percent of Chinese companies and 22 percent of companies from other countries gave the same answer.

The report also says that the 90-day truce led to a rush delivery of orders between the U.S. and China. Those orders or trade volumes account for 20 to 30 percent of the companies' annual volume.

However, companies in the survey remained confident in South China's economic development. Half of them ranked the Chinese mainland as their best investment destination, with Guangzhou voted as the most preferred city for investment across 35 cities in the Chinese mainland for the second consecutive year. 

Eighty percent of the companies expressed optimism towards the future of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Strong support from the government, improved infrastructure as well as regional economic development are considered as three powerful drivers for the prosperity of the Greater Bay Area. 

Praising the Chinese central government's efforts in improving business environments such as establishing the IPR court, AmCham South China also called for the establishment of a new judicial venue where foreign companies can lodge complaints and get them properly dealt with.