At the House of Hunan restaurant in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago, Li Zhicun is mingling with Chinese business executives and swapping toasts with diplomats from the Chinese consulate to mark the lunar new year.

Mr Zhicun's employer, Taishan Fiberglass, is based in China's eastern province of Shandong. But the company set up a sales and distribution operation in Indiana 18 months ago.