At present, international online sales account for only a small percentage of total online sales. This is because international shipping costs for goods purchased by Chinese consumers on American websites remain high compared to average purchase prices for online retail goods, restricting U.S.-China online retail sales to relatively low levels. Most non-bulk, lighter manufactured products covering such a distance move via air transportation. Still, online stores with branches in China, such as Amazon, are able to get around the firewall and to ship retail products domestically by maintaining a local presence. For truly international sales from the U.S. to China, shipping costs may decline in the future, and American firms do not want to reduce sales and marketing opportunities even before they open up.

The USTR report states, “over the past decade, China’s filtering of cross-border Internet traffic has posed a significant burden to foreign suppliers, hurting both Internet sites themselves, and users who often depend on them for their businesses. Outright blocking of websites appears to have worsened over the past year, with 8 of the top 25 most trafficked global sites now blocked in China.” According to the U.S. Census, total unadjusted e-commerce sales in the U.S. stood at $341.73 billion in 2015, while in China, Internet sales for 2015 weighed in at $589.61 billion, representing a higher percentage of retail sales than in the U.S.

The Cyberspace Administration of China has rebutted this claim by asserting that the firewall was in place for security purposes and is not a violation of World Trade Organization stipulations.

Recently, the 2016 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, produced by Ambassador Michael Froman in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, stated, controversially, that China’s Great Firewall presents a trade barrier to American suppliers.

"China also reportedly conditions foreign investment approvals on technology transfer to Chinese entities, mandates adverse licensing terms on foreign IP licensors, uses anti-monopoly laws to extract technology on unreasonable terms and subsidizes acquisition of foreign high technology firms to bring technology to the Chinese parent companies."

Sec. Ross: We will work hard to reduce our trade deficits    9:25 AM ET Fri, 31 March 2017 | 02:17 Just Watched... Judges change in DOJ vs. AT&T lawsuit Share this video https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/11/21/judges-change-in-doj-vs-att-lawsuit.html Watch Next... Cancel Justice Department thinks it has a good case against AT&T: Law professor The Trump administration on Friday slammed China on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and long-standing bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services. The annual trade barriers list from the U.S. Trade Representative's office sets up more areas of potential irritation for the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Florida. USTR, controlled by the White House, said that Chinese government industrial policies and financial support for industries such as steel and aluminum have resulted in over-production and a flood of exports that have distorted global markets and undermined competitive companies. "While China has begun to take steps to address steel excess capacity, these steps have been inadequate to date and even fewer efforts have been taken by China in aluminum and other sectors," USTR said in the report. The USTR released the list of trade irritants in 63 countries just after senior Trump trade officials announced an executive order to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits. The report said China also is using a series of cybersecurity restrictions as part of an apparent long-term goal to replace foreign information and communications technology products and services with locally produced versions. USTR also accused China of using a range of measures to engineer the transfer of foreign technology to local firms. It said these include denying financial or regulatory approvals to companies using foreign-owned intellectual property or that do not conduct research or manufacture products in China.

The USTR released the list of trade irritants in 63 countries just after senior Trump trade officials announced an executive order to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits.

The report said China also is using a series of cybersecurity restrictions as part of an apparent long-term goal to replace foreign information and communications technology products and services with locally produced versions.

The Trump administration on Friday slammed China on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and long-standing bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services.

The annual trade barriers list from the U.S. Trade Representative's office sets up more areas of potential irritation for the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Florida.