Such hostile rhetoric and initiatives is not welcomed by those watching US-China IP issues closely. “Getting increased harmonisation of trade secret laws usually depends not just on bargaining as happened with the Phase One agreement with China, but is also usually grounded in an environment that values global free trade,” says seasoned Silicon Valley trial lawyer and international trade secret expert James Pooley. His concern, therefore, is that as the America retreats “more and more from free trade and globalisation” opportunities will be lost to influence the improvement of trade secret protection in other countries, including in China.

And for Pooley, China stands out for many reasons. “At the moment it has decided to pull back from publishing most court decisions, so that lack of transparency leaves us uninformed about how the enforcement system is working, and therefore in a difficult spot when trying to engage in diplomacy about improvements,” he explains.

Pooley spent 10 days in China earlier this year meeting with various academics, businesspeople and government officials, talking about the new edition of his book Trade Secrets (Intellectual Property) which has been translated into Mandarin. His impression is that, overall, China is “quite aware of and interested in” improving its trade secret protection frameworks, “for the obvious reason” that it will help move the economy forward.

“But I suspect that, given current political realities, the Chinese will be doing that more on their own, rather than in conversation and collaboration with the US,” says Pooley. “So I worry about the consequences of not having the chance for meaningful, continuous engagement with China regarding trade secret enforcement.”