TRADE DISPUTE

The House of Representatives on 22 September approved legislation to prohibit the importation of all goods, wares, articles and merchandise mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the XUAR, or by persons working with the XUAR government for purposes of the “poverty alleviation” programme or the “pairing-assistance” programme which subsidises the establishment of manufacturing facilities in the XUAR. More

A WTO dispute settlement panel ruled on 15 September that the United States’ imposition of additional tariffs on US$234 billion worth of imports from mainland China violated U.S. obligations under WTO rules. U.S. officials decried the decision, although it will likely have no practical effect. More

A petition filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on 28 August seeks the issuance of a regional withhold release order that would detain at U.S. borders imports of a range of textile and apparel products from mainland China and potentially other locations due to concerns that they are being made with forced labour. More

According to a 24 August press release by USTR, U.S. and mainland Chinese officials discussed in a recent call on the phase one economic and trade agreement Beijing’s steps to “effectuate structural changes called for by the Agreement that will ensure greater protection for intellectual property rights, remove impediments to American companies in the areas of financial services and agriculture, and eliminate forced technology transfer.” More