长期以来，美国依靠以美元和金融系统为核心的长臂管辖权约束跨国企业，而如今中国正依托其全球领先的制造业供应链建立起对等的反制长臂。随着今年4月强化反制裁法律法规，中国赋予了自身惩罚配合外国制裁企业的法定权力，使跨国公司面临在中美法律冲突中非此即彼的夹击困境。例如，摩根大通和花旗银行因执行美国财政部对涉华实体的制裁指令而在中国法院遭到数千万元索赔诉讼；最高人民法院亦在6月援引新法规裁定一家拒绝承运被制裁香港实体电子产品的某新加坡企业败诉。

中国的反制与监管武器库正在快速扩张。今年4月，Meta拟斥资20亿美元收购已迁往新加坡的人工智能初创企业Manus，尽管该交易超越了直接司法管辖权，但在中方限制创始人出境并依托中国企业每年在Meta平台投放数百亿美元广告的筹码施压下，Meta最终被迫解除收购协议。此外，中国正制定监管规则以强化对国产AI技术跨境流动的管控，并将于9月15日生效涉及出入境禁令的新规定；而在美国财政部于8月24日制裁涉伊朗石油与军民两用技术的数十个中国实体后，双方的法律与制裁对抗进一步升级。

对于在纽约融资并在深圳布局供应链的典型跨国企业而言，合规风险正演化为生存考验。企业不仅面临资产扣押、民事罚款与供应链黑名单制裁，其管理层还面临人身限制与刑事拘留的严峻风险。尽管跨国企业普遍采取业务拆分、数据隔离、技术转让管控及供应链去风险化等防火墙策略，但在法律模糊且缺乏独立审查机制的环境下，企业往往被迫在不同阵营的法律冲突中艰难权衡，屈从于能造成更大实质损害的一方，加速了全球商业体系向阵营化分裂的趋势。

For decades, the United States leveraged its global financial hegemony to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over multinational firms, but China is now deploying its dominant manufacturing supply chains to construct an equivalent counter-reach. Following strengthened counter-sanctions legislation in April, Beijing empowered its courts to penalize companies complying with foreign sanctions. Major US lenders including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup face multimillion-dollar lawsuits in Chinese courts for enforcing US Treasury blacklists, while in June, China's Supreme Court ruled against a Singaporean logistics firm for refusing to transport electronics for a sanctioned Hong Kong entity.

Beijing's regulatory arsenal against foreign enterprises is expanding rapidly across high-tech and cross-border commerce. In April, Chinese regulatory pressure forced Meta to unravel its $2bn acquisition of AI startup Manus—even though the startup had relocated to Singapore—leveraging exit bans on its founders alongside the leverage of Chinese firms spending tens of billions of dollars annually in advertising on Meta's platforms. Furthermore, with new technology export controls and sweeping entry-exit restrictions taking effect on September 15th, legal confrontation escalated further after the US Treasury sanctioned dozens of Chinese entities on August 24th over Iranian dual-use technology flows.

Multinational corporations balancing Wall Street financing and Shenzhen manufacturing operations are trapped in an irreconcilable compliance squeeze where obeying American mandates violates Chinese law. Beyond asset seizures and commercial blacklisting, corporate executives face heightened risks of exit bans and coercive detention. While companies attempt to build firewalls by legally segregating Chinese subsidiaries, ring-fencing sensitive data, and diversifying supply networks, corporate compliance will increasingly hinge on calculated deference to whichever superpower threatens greater commercial disruption, accelerating the fragmentation of global business.

Source: When obeying an American law means breaking a Chinese one

Subtitle: Multinationals must prepare for a world of legal contradictio

Dateline: Aug 27th 2026