As the 2025 Suzhou Global Investment Conference opened on Saturday, Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province continues to serve as a magnet for foreign investment in China, with over 340 billion yuan in investments poised to unlock new opportunities in the market.
Over 1,200 representatives from global enterprises and investment institutions convened at the Suzhou International Expo Center for the two-day conference, with many sealing deals on the spot to expand their investments in China. A total of 417 projects were signed, amounting to investments exceeding 340 billion yuan.
The event's exhibition area also showcased the city's achievements in new industrialization, including the low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, robotics, high-end equipment, and biomedicine. The city has put its industrial strengths on display, inviting foreign investors to explore cooperation opportunities. Many foreign representatives reiterated their commitment to the Chinese market.
Tibor Buček, director for international relations at Slovakia's Investment Support Association, attended the event. He said after the conference that they're looking for cooperation in the aircraft industry with China.
"We are producing the biggest amount of the aircraft per capita in the world, you know, because we [have a] population [of] only 5 million, but the aircraft, so we are producing a lot. We are planning to make joint venture with some Chinese company regarding aircraft," he said.
Many of the signed projects were high-investment research and development headquarters, which have become a focus of Suzhou's efforts to attract foreign investment in recent years.
"Our company, we entered the Chinese market 20 years ago. We have now fully localized all the competencies in China. In the future, we want to grow together with the Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) not only in China, but also from China to global," said Carsten Kneer, Asia-Pacific Vice President of Benecke-Changshun Automotive Interior Materials (Zhangjiagang) Company.
As a key hub for China's economic opening, Suzhou hosts over 19,000 foreign-funded enterprises, with cumulative foreign investment utilization reaching 167 billion U.S. dollars. The city has transitioned from importing European technologies to developing and manufacturing products locally based on Chinese market needs, prompting further investment from multinational companies. In the first quarter of 2025, Suzhou's foreign capital utilization hit 3.53 billion U.S. dollars, up 9 percent year-on-year, including 825 million U.S. dollars from reinvested profits, a 21.9 percent increase.
"In the Chinese market, the iteration speed is very high. On the one hand, we rely on the deep technological accumulation from Germany to support the development of the Chinese market. On the other hand, the new methods and applications introduced during the continuous technological iteration in the Chinese market are also shared globally," said Xie Xiongyan, deputy plant manager of the United Automotive Electronic Systems' Taicang Branch in Taicang City, east China's Jiangsu Province.
Suzhou investment conference secures over 340 bln yuan in deals
Shipments from China to the United States have surged since the two countries announced tariff cuts, driving up freight shipping costs for U.S. companies who are rushing to replenish inventories in the 90-day window and prepare for an uncertain future.
Among them is Stonemaier Games, a U.S. tabletop game publisher which has been producing games in China and selling them in the domestic market over the past 13 years.
Jamey Stegmaier, founder and president of the company, told China Central Television that they are trying to ship products out of China as quickly as possible, but the surging demand in freight shipping has made it much harder.
U.S. bookings for container shipments from China to the U.S. had surged by nearly 300 percent as of Wednesday, which has driven up freight shipping prices, according to data from container-tracking software provider Vizion.
"The challenge we are facing now is that a lot of other companies are doing the same thing. So, we are facing shipping delays, port congestions and higher freight shipping costs as a result. I don't have exact numbers on how much the prices will increase. Usually, freight shipping costs are locked in for about a month. So, on June 1, we anticipate seeing those prices go up significantly. And for any shipments that leave China for us in late June, there is the risk that they won't even arrive within the 90-day window. 90 days will fly by," Stegmaier said.
Stegmaier said his company is planning on their winter holiday production run, but it will be much more modest than usual as they don't know how much the tariffs will be at that time.
"The current challenge that we're facing is largely one of uncertainty. I don't even know if the 90-day tariff reprieve will hold. I don't know what will happen after that. So, we are planning for a very uncertain future. And that's the biggest impact, I would say, both on the production side and the inventory that we plan on bringing and holding here in the U.S. at our warehouses," he said.
Questioning the ability of the current U.S. government to build partnerships with other countries, Stegmaier expressed hope that his country will improve its economic ties with other countries and create a more stable business environment.
"So, I'm hopeful for what the future brings in stronger ties between the U.S. and China and any other country. I'm worried the current administration in the U.S. isn't well-equipped to handle that sort of strong, healthy relationship. But I'm hopeful that relationship will improve," he said.
Following a two-day China-U.S. high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs in Geneva, the world's two largest economies announced in a joint statement on Monday a series of measures, tariff modification measures, aimed at easing trade tensions, which took effect on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the United States will place a 90-day pause on 24 percentage points of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of China, while retaining the remaining rate of 10 percent on those articles. It will also remove the additional tariff rates on imports from China announced on April 8 and 9 respectively.
China will suspend 24 percentage points of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of the United States for an initial period of 90 days, while retaining the remaining additional ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles. It will remove the modified additional ad valorem rates of duty on those articles imposed by the No. 5 and No. 6 announcements issued by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council on April 9 and 11, respectively.
U.S. businesses rush to ship products out of China following tariff cuts
