China will impose antidumping duties on certain stainless steel products imported from the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced in a July 23 press release. China said it is being “substantially damaged” by dumped imports of “stainless steel billet and hot-rolled stainless steel plate/coil” originating in the EU and the three other countries, and will impose antidumping duties ranging from 18.1 percent to 103.1 percent on these products. The duty rates will be in effect for five years, starting July 23, China said. The ruling stems from an investigation China began on July 23, 2018, the ministry said.
China’s Ministry of Commerce is conducting an antidumping investigation on imports of “N-propanol” originating in the U.S., the ministry said in a July 24 press release. The ministry said its investigation will include “n-Propylalcohol, 1-Propanol, 1-Propyl alcohol, Propan-1-ol, Ethylcarbinol or 1-Hydroxypropane.” China said it expects to complete its investigation before July 23, 2020.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will hold trade talks in Shanghai that begin July 30. The White House said that the "discussions will cover a range of issues, including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, the trade deficit, and enforcement."
Portugal is gaining more access to Chinese agricultural markets and signed a “protocol” with China in June that allows Portugal to export “swine offals” to China, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a Foreign Agricultural Service report released July 23. That move comes after a May agreement in which China agreed “to facilitate Portuguese agricultural exports,” USDA said. Portugal expects the Chinese market to “open for all Portuguese swine offals” by 2020, the report said. The agreements are expected to “transform the structure of Portuguese pork industry” and will bring challenges to “slaughterhouses without their own pork production and without export strategies,” the report said. In addition, Portugal’s pork industry plans to increase hog production “to satisfy the domestic and increasing international pork demand,” USDA said.
The Commerce Department plans to issue decisions on Huawei-related export license applications “within the next few weeks,” Secretary Wilbur Ross said July 23 on Bloomberg Television. Ross said Commerce has received about 50 applications from 35 companies. “We’re processing them as quickly as we responsibly can,” he said.
An American Enterprise Institute trade scholar says "Japan has chosen a dangerous and destructive mode of retaliation, one that is likely to greatly disrupt global electronic supply chains and bolster China’s push for dominance of 5G wireless," and it's not justified, even if South Korea has been provoking its former occupier.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving $100 million to 48 trade associations and organizations in an effort to help U.S. agriculture exporters find new markets, the USDA said in a July 19 press release. Representatives from the U.S. agricultural industry have repeatedly told Congress that the U.S. trade war with China and the delay in ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are significantly hurting U.S. exports. Some fear they will not be able to regain certain export markets in China. Others said trade mitigation programs are not the solution (see 1905290041).