The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is increasingly requiring companies to enter into mitigation agreements before approving a deal, and those agreements are getting more complex, said a former senior government official who worked on CFIUS cases. And although some companies fear the ongoing CFIUS review of Japan’s Nippon Steel signals that the committee could be veering away from its traditional national security focus, the former official said he’s not expecting the Nippon Steel case to spark a trend of politically motivated reviews.
Exports to China
China announced sanctions this week on three U.S. companies that supply the defense industry -- Edge Autonomy, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Skydio -- along with 10 defense industry executives for their ties to arms sales to Taiwan, according to an unofficial translation of a notice from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The designations target employees from those three firms along with Sierra Nevada, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and other defense companies. The ministry said the sanctions freeze their assets in China, and people and entities in China are blocked from “conducting relevant transactions” with them.
U.S. semiconductor export controls on China lack a clear “endgame,” said Michael Mazarr, a senior political scientist with the RAND think tank. He said the controls are a “perfect example” of a U.S. policy approach that embraces “competition for its own sake and rushing down blind alleys without a clear sense of where policy will lead.”
Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena said that she has been told that the U.S. will not comply with the panel ruling that said that rollup was understood to be part of the automotive rule of origin (see 2403070067), and she said that is undermining USMCA. She said that's because both the Republicans and the Democrats are fighting for the political support of the United Autoworkers and Teamsters. (The autoworkers' union characterizes rollup as watering down the requirement for North American content in vehicles).
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week to lift U.S. semiconductor export restrictions against China (see 2211010042 and 2302020034) and reverse its proposed import restrictions on Chinese connected vehicles (see 2409220001), saying the two countries need to reach a clearer understanding around their national security-related trade policies.
China will impose temporary antidumping duties on imports of brandy from the EU after preliminary findings showed the imports are threatening its domestic industry, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 8 Ministry of Commerce notice. Beginning Oct. 11, Importers of EU brandy must pay security deposits ranging from 30.6% to 39%, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. The announcement came less than a week after EU member states voted to approve new countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles (see 2410040013).
The U.K. on Oct. 8 revised its antidumping duties on ceramic tiles from China, revoking the duties for tiles where the largest surface equals or exceeds 0.36 meters squared "unless the differential relief on the largest surface exceeds" 3 millimeters. The U.K. also revoked duties for tiles with an "edge equal to or longer than 600mm, unless the differential relief on the largest surface exceeds 3mm." Another change adds "finishing ceramics" to the description of the covered goods, while "glazed and unglazed" will be removed from the description. The notice also extends the existing duty rates for another five years, until Nov. 24, 2027.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week he welcomes a renewed call by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pass legislation restricting outbound investment in China. McCaul tweeted that he will help Johnson “get these efforts across the finish line.”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, urged his colleagues last week to approve his Strategic Act, a wide-ranging China bill that contains several export control, sanctions and foreign investment provisions, including creation of a “tiger team” to start identifying targets for sanctions, export controls and other economic measures “well before China takes military action” against Taiwan.
EU member states on Oct. 3 voted to approve new countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles (see 2408200020) despite lobbying from Beijing and opposition from some member states, including Germany (see 2410030028). The new duties, "including the definitive findings" of the EU's CVD probe, must be published in the Official Journal of the EU by Oct. 30, the European Commission said.