Fast food from US, China catches on in both countries amid trade tensions

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 US population.

China's languishing economy and cutthroat industry competition, meanwhile, have Chinese chains trying their luck in the US, turning crumbs and straws into a two-way cultural bridge between the two superpowers.

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.

In China, recent American arrivals like Popeyes and Five Guys are seen as a guilty pleasure, she said, while the increasingly international palates of Americans have created space for Chinese brands to serve as their nation's unofficial ambassadors.

"Consume