Lawyers said that Google and the US might have a legal basis for suing China at the World Trade Organisation, a move that would further strain trade relations between Washington and Beijing.
Over the past year, each government has brought a string of emergency trade restrictions and legal cases against the other. Last month, the WTO appeals body handed the US a victory, upholding an earlier ruling that China had broken WTO rules by requiring foreign companies to use Chinese distributors for music, books and films, including products delivered online.
The US could argue that Beijing's censorship in effect discriminated against foreign services such as Google, contrary to its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (Gats).