Intellectual...

Beijing has been dogged by accusations that it forces U.S. firms to transfer technology to their Chinese business partners. 

The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property estimates the annual costs from the loss of intellectual property ranges from $225 billion to $600 billion.

Leakage of intellectual property was a larger concern when doing business in China than elsewhere. A paper by the St. Louis Federal Reserve in 2015 estimated that half of the technology possessed by Chinese companies came from foreign firms.

National security experts say Chinese hackers have also long tried to steal trade secrets from U.S. defense contractors. This is the greatest transfer of wealth in history.

Then there’s the sale of counterfeit goods in China. Third-party vendors on internet retail platforms owned by the likes of Alibaba have often sold counterfeit goods, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.