If U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivers on campaign pledges to get tough with China on trade, lining up against him likely will be another powerful adversary: American multinational corporations.

These companies have more than $228 billion in China investments at stake in the event of a trade conflict between the world's two biggest economies. Their track record of pushing back against Washington on trade indicates they'll back their own interests — and thus China — if enmity erupts.

A trade confrontation between China and the U.S. would ripple across the globe, potentially disrupting China's vast chain of suppliers throughout Asia along with the price of consumer goods it exports to markets from New York to New Zealand. While Trump is determined to cut into the huge U.S. trade deficit with China, American companies are desperate not to lose ground to competitors in one of the world's fastest-growing consumer markets.