The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Thursday "many serious concerns" about intellectual property protection and enforcement in China persist, criticizing its slow pace of reform.
The office said China is one of the seven countries remaining on its "priority watch list," pointing out that, among many other issues, it and Hong Kong were again the largest exporters of counterfeit goods in fiscal 2023.
"China's e-commerce markets, the largest in the world, remain a source of widespread counterfeits as infringing sales have migrated from physical to online markets," the USTR said in an annual review of the global state of intellectual property protection.
Of all counterfeit and pirated goods seized by U.S. authorities in the fiscal year, China and Hong Kong accounted for over 83 percent of the value measured by manufacturers' suggested retail price, the USTR said, citing customs data.
The other six countries that the USTR retained on the list in the Special 301 Report are Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.
Of those countries, the report said India is one of the world's most challenging major economies in regards to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, with patent issues continuing to be of particular concern.
The USTR placed 20 other countries on a watch list, spotlighting Vietnam which has increasingly become a leading source of online piracy.
It warned that Vietnam now hosts "some of the most popular piracy sites and services in the world that target a global audience."
