When US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick addressed over 5,000 attendees via video at a major investment forum outside Washington last month, his message was clear: now is the time to invest in the US.

Aimed at a global audience of business leaders and investors, Lutnick’s remarks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit were meant to affirm America’s openness to foreign capital.

Meanwhile, the terrain for Chinese investment on the US state level is as complicated as ever, making it easy to understand why Lutnick’s words might not spur the kind of investment interest seen before Sino-American ties began to fray.

China, once the largest foreign delegation to the annual summit hosted by the US Commerce Department since 2011, sent only about 50 delegates this year.