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On May 22, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the addition of the following  businesses and a government institute to the agency’s Entity List in response to involvement in or support for human rights abuses related to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR):

  • China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute

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On January 15, 2019, President Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the long-awaited “phase one” trade deal at the White House. The deal represents the first step towards a comprehensive agreement between the two nations and progress in the U.S.-China relationship. The deal will help ease trade tensions signaling a truce in the…

On October 18, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced an exclusion process for products included on China Section 301 List 4A, which covers approximately $120 billion of imports. Imported products on this list are presently subject to an additional 15 percent duty, which went into effect September 1, 2019 – that duty…

Last week, the United States and China reached an agreement on the long-awaited “phase one” trade deal.  The deal, originally announced in October, will include tariff reductions by the United States and a $200 billion increase of U.S. good purchases by China. According to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the 86-page agreement is currently…

On Tuesday, as “phase one” of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China nears completion, the Wall Street Journal reported that the interim agreement would not only deter new tariffs, but lessen existing tariffs.  However, the “phase one” agreement reportedly will not include language regarding forced technology transfers.

China’s practice of forcing U.S. companies…

Last week, Congress sent to the President’s desk a bill supporting pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.  The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), passed the Senate by unanimous consent and the House by a vote of 417-1 (last month, the House passed a similar measure authored…

China and the United States continue to move towards finalizing a “phase one” trade deal. Speaking to the Economic Club of New York, President Trump stated that the United States is “close” to a deal and that it “could happen soon.” The President was also quick to note that he would only accept a deal…

Late last week, China filed a request with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) for authorization to “suspend concessions and related obligations” in the amount of $2.4 billion as recourse for the United States’ alleged failure to comply with a 2015 dispute settlement report.  The disagreement stems from a dispute filed by China in May 2012 challenging certain aspects of 17 countervailing duty investigations by the United States, on a wide range of products, as conducted by the Department of Commerce (DS437).  The decision reached by a WTO panel, as modified by the WTO Appellate Body and adopted by the DSB in January 2015, included a number of findings in favor of and against the United States.  In particular, the WTO Appellate Body found that Commerce’s “rebuttable presumption” that Chinese state-owned enterprises are public bodies, and that Commerce’s rejection of Chinese private transaction prices as distorting the benchmark for the “provisions of goods or services for less than adequate remuneration” benefit analysis, were inconsistent with WTO rules.

In May 2016, China returned to the WTO to request consultations with the United States under Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), which establishes procedures for when parties disagree about whether the losing party has implemented the DSB’s recommendations and rulings.  Failed consultations led to the establishment of a compliance panel, which issued a decision in March 2018.  Both China and the United States appealed to the WTO Appellate Body.  In July 2019, the Appellate Body upheld the compliance panel’s …
Continue Reading China Requests $2.4 Billion in Relief After WTO Ruling Against United States

On Friday, October 11, 2019, President Trump announced that a “phase one” agreement had been reached with China. Most notably, the U.S. agreed to suspend its plan to increase tariffs from 25% to 30% on $250 billion in Chinese goods, which had been scheduled for October 15. In return, China has agreed to purchase between…