Fast food from the US and China catches on in both countries

The bilateral trade in burgers and bubble tea is business- and consumer-led gastrodiplomacy in action, said Yaling Jiang, the founder of ApertureChina, a market research company with headquarters in Shanghai and London. China and the United States are divided on many issues, from tariffs and technology to Taiwan. But there is one thing tying them together: fast food. American restaurant and beverage chains are expanding rapidly in China, drawn by the potential customer pool in a country with four times the U.S. population. China’s languishing economy and cutthroat industry competition, meanwhile, have Chinese chains trying their luck in the U.S.,…