China is investigating American clothing company PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and other major fashion retailers, for possible inclusion on its so-called unreliable entity list, China's Ministry of Commerce announced Sept. 24, according to an unofficial translation. China said PVH is suspected of violating “normal market trading principles” for products related to the country’s Xinjiang region, along with the “interruption of normal transactions with Chinese companies, other organizations or individuals, and adoption of discriminatory measures.”
The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body on Sept. 23 agreed to establish a dispute panel in China's challenge of certain U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act. Ahead of the Sept. 23 meeting of the DSB, China submitted a second request for a dispute settlement panel to assess whether the tax credits violate WTO rules.
Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, said Canada will challenge the conclusions of the fifth administrative reviews of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on softwood lumber from Canada through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, as Canada calls the NAFTA successor.
China’s Foreign Ministry this week criticized Canada’s decision to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports (see 2408260033), saying the measure “ignores facts” and “disrespects” World Trade Organization rules. “This typical protectionist move disrupts China-Canada trade relations, harms the interests of Canadian companies and consumers, and does little good to Canada’s green transition process and global effort for climate response,” a ministry spokesperson said during an Aug. 27 press conference in response to a question from a wire service reporter. “China will take all measures necessary to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”
Nearly $43 million worth of electronics equipment bound for the U.S. from India has been detained under Uyghur Force Labor Prevention Act since last October, according to CBP data, Reuters said in an Aug. 27 report. CBP's data doesn't parse out the types of goods within each category that were detained, but solar panels may have constituted the majority of the detained electronics equipment, the report quoted sources as saying.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has ordered the two major Canadian freight railways and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) to undergo binding arbitration over a new labor agreement that would replace the old one that expired in December 2023. A meeting of parties is to take place later this week.
Canada will soon impose a 100% import tariff on all Chinese-made electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products, moves that will protect its auto industry from what it said are Beijing’s “unfair, non-market policies and practices.”
Just as it seemed there would be a resolution to the work stoppage involving two major Canadian freight railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) late Aug. 22, union members were saying as of our press time the next day that they weren't yet ready to return to work, continuing the uncertainty over when the work stoppage will officially end.
China’s recently announced export restrictions on antimony (see 2408150022) are expected to cause supplies of the critical mineral to tighten and prices to rise sharply, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Aug. 20.
Most EU member states missed a July deadline to implement the EU’s new corporate sustainability reporting rules into national law, causing uncertainty for businesses that want to ready their compliance procedures before the rules take effect beginning next year, a major European law firm said.