"It's an investment, and ultimately a partnership, that has given Workman and other children's publishers the opportunity to create -- and bring to market at affordable prices -- innovative and high-quality products," Reynolds said.

In the current situation, solid partnerships between U.S. and Chinese companies have become more evident than ever.

Powercharge conducts research and development with a factory in Shenzhen, a tech hub in southern China. "Now typically it's more we're discovering what needs to be done, how can we improve those products, and then we work directly with the factory and say, okay, this is what we need to change in the software," Portaro told Xinhua.

"We have a great relationship," he said.

Jean Kolloff, CEO and founder of Quinn Apparel + QI Cashmere, said her New York-based company usually makes contracts for production as early as eight months prior to shipping, meaning prices get fixed from customers and vendors.

In the wake of the tariff threat, her Chinese partner, a cashmere manufacturer in eastern China's Anhui Province, has been working two shifts to "help us out," lest costs get too high for Kolloff.

"They are literally working around the clock 24 hours a day to complete my production, to get it on a boat or on a plane and get it to the U.S. before it happens," Kolloff said.

Hope for trade amity

Feinstein, among others, has urged Washington to drop the "big stick" of tariffs and pursue "alternative approaches" to address trade issues with China.

Twenty-five-percent tariffs on some 250 billion dollars' worth of Chinese goods are in effect. China, in response, raised additional tariffs as retaliatory measures on a range of U.S. products.

Beijing and Washington had held 11 rounds of trade talks until the White House escalated trade tensions by unilaterally imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods in May, stalling efforts from both sides that had yielded positive results.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the latter's request, and agreed to meet with Trump during the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan, a silver lining in the prolonged U.S.-initiated trade disputes.

News about the two presidents' upcoming meeting is "certainly encouraging," said James M. Roberts, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

"It is not surprising that markets have reacted favorably," Roberts said. "Assuming that the meeting stays on track, markets should continue to view the upcoming G20 hopefully."

Witnesses at the hearings expressed hopes that trade tensions would be properly managed and that bilateral trade and economic cooperation would return to normal.

Katherine Gold, whose family-owned company specializes in toddler shoes and socks, told Xinhua she expects the two sides to "come to some kind of a cooperative agreement" so that business and industry representatives won't have to fret about the threat of extra tariffs.

"I believe we will find a resolution to this," said Kerry Stackpole, CEO and executive director of Plumbing Manufacturers International, who testified against tariff hikes, while stressing long-time economic ties between the United States and China.

"Pretty much the entire planet is linked together in trade and commerce," said John Larned, founder of Global RFID Systems North America, a radio frequency identification solutions provider that sources finished components and products from China. "It all works much better when there are fewer impediments to trade."

"Through business, we become friends, we prosper together," Larned added.

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