The EU formally opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization on July 30, asking for consultations with Taiwan regarding its measures related to off-shore wind installations. Those measures include domestic content requirements, which the EU claims are incompatible with commitments under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The EU last week said it planned to open the dispute because of how they would affect the transition to green energy (see 2407260011). The request for consultations gives the parties 60 days to find a solution to the dispute. If no solution is found, the bloc can request for "adjudication by a panel."
At a field hearing in Michigan, House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and committee member Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., emphasized electric vehicle battery maker Gotion's ties to suppliers that use Uyghur forced labor, and questioned why Gotion should be allowed to open factories in their states. Gotion declined to send a representative to testify, they said.
The Biden administration should seek to remove trade barriers that are making it difficult for American producers of liquor and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to export their products to India, a member of Congress said July 23.
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The Canadian press noted that Canada is working to convince officials that might serve in a future Trump administration to spare Canadian goods from a global 10% tariff, but former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who recently traveled to Canada, has said Canada won't necessarily be exempted.
European officials last week called for more EU-U.S. cooperation on China policy, particularly around trade restrictions, to respond to Beijing’s unfair market practices and deter its military.
When Bloomberg asked former President Donald Trump if he has thought about easing or eliminating sanctions on Russia as part of a peace settlement in Ukraine if he is reelected, the Republican nominee replied, "Yeah. So what we’re doing with sanctions is we’re forcing everyone away from us. So I don’t love sanctions. I found them very useful with Iran, but I didn’t even need sanctions with Iran so much. I told China that and Russia is in a similar position."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on July 16 to resign after the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was found guilty in a federal corruption trial. It was not immediately clear whether Menendez would accept Schumer's recommendation. Menendez stepped down as chairman in September 2023 after he was indicted (see 2309280005). He remains a member of the committee, where he has been a vocal critic in recent years of a Trump-era rule that transferred the export control jurisdiction of certain weapons from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2110050029, 2109210058 and 2001170030), among other export control and sanctions issues.
Beijing renewed its antidumping duties on imports of Japanese and U.S. optical fiber preforms, saying in a July 10 notice that the imports will damage China’s domestic industry if the duties are allowed to lapse. The tariffs will remain in place for five years from July 11, according to an unofficial translation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said July 8 that he hopes to have a "significant package of China-related legislation" signed into law this year, including measures to "punish" Chinese military firms that provide material support to Russia and Iran.