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The case of the Lyon-based automotive manufacturer Marius Berliet ( amb) illustrates the difficulties for companies to trade with the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. But amb also seems original, even a pioneer, in its approach to the Chinese market. Its attempts were unsuccessful until the mid-1950s: the absence of commercial representation, of Franco-Chinese diplomatic relations, and especially of the existence of a multilateral system of restrictions in international trade, constituted major handicaps. On the other hand, Berliet was later able to export trucks from the Moroccan and Algerian subsidiaries of the group, until the early 1960s. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and communist China in 1964, amb signed the "China licence" agreement (1965), the first transfer of French technology to the prc.