It started with Trump. Then Biden took the baton and ran with it to introduce the first ever capital markets sanction against a country and its companies. Where the two leaders see eye-to-eye on China today, and in the near-term.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade heard from witnesses on forced labor practices worldwide, and whether or not current measures are putting a dent in it or not.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday heard from witnesses on what “working with allies” on China really entails. First, a focus on soft power in Indo-Pacific, which means funding development projects there. Second, a reminder that a weak, China-dependent Europe makes it harder for them to join forces with Washington.
Both houses of Congress have bills that have passed committees, easily, in regard to building domestic supply of personal protective equipment for medical staff. These bills need to hit the floor so President Biden can sign them. But, more importantly, Buy American provisions face serious WTO risk, making all of this action moot.
The Biden Administration warned American businesses of sanctions risk and other problems in doing business with Hong Kong, now officially part of China. Washington now needs to get Hong Kong out of the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement, which essentially grants China backdoor entrance to Buy America provisions.
A Senate Commerce hearing on supply chain resilience praises the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, but forgets that there is a trade provision in that act that actually does harm to any plans to diversify supply out of China.
The Biden administration is stepping up the pressure on China for its human rights violations against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. U.S. companies in Hong Kong on notice now, too.
Elizabeth Warren, others, say American multinationals too cushy with China. And it’s come at the detriment to American manufacturing labor.
Financial backers of China companies involved in unreasonable surveillance, and Uyghur genocide, put on notice in State Department’s newest Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory.
Climate activist groups have said that criticizing China for its abysmal human rights record is bad for the planet — that calling out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its genocide against ethnic minorities might make Beijing ignore the West’s efforts to roll back CO2 emissions. For years, China has used the West’s worry over…