Days after U.S. officials said they secured an agreement for Beijing to rein in its export curbs on critical minerals (see 2506110044), China announced it has approved license applications for those exports, but didn't offer more details.
China on June 18 began issuing electronic “apostilles” for certificates of origin as part of a pilot program aimed at eliminating paper applications, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press conference. The apostilles will certify the authenticity of certificates of origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and applications will “no longer need to go through any off-line procedures at consular authentication agencies,” the spokesperson said.
China's Foreign Ministry this week objected to Taiwan's recent decision to add Huawei and SMIC to Taiwan's Entity List (see 2506160008), and it criticized the U.S. for potentially pushing Taiwan toward the move.
China is extending its antidumping duty investigation on imports of pork and pork byproducts from the EU (see 2406180009), according to an unofficial translation of a Ministry of Commerce press release. The review was scheduled to be completed by June 17, but China said it's now hoping to finish it by Dec. 16 "in view of the complexity of this case." China announced the investigation last year, days after the EU said it would set new countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles (see 2406120008).
China defended itself again this week against accusations from the EU, the U.S. and others that Beijing is withholding exports of critical minerals and other rare earths (see 2505300002), saying it has a right to impose export controls on those items.
The U.S. has "seriously" violated the consensus reached by Washington and Beijing during trade talks in Switzerland last month when it placed new export restrictions on chip design software (see 2505290038 and 2505300006) and warned companies against using advanced chips made by Huawei (see 2505130018), China's Ministry of Commerce said this week.
China's Foreign Ministry criticized recent measures by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security to restrict exports of a range of items to China, saying Beijing "firmly" opposes the controls and "will resolutely defend our legitimate rights and interests."
China is imposing antidumping duties on imported polyformaldehyde copolymer, a type of engineering thermoplastic, from the U.S., the EU, Taiwan and Japan, according to a notice posted by the Chinese State Council Information Office. The duties took effect May 19 and will remain in place for five years. Rates range from 3.8% to 74.9%.
China this week said it’s temporarily reversing April announcements that added dozens of U.S. companies to the country’s unreliable entity list, which blocked those firms from participating in import and export activities in China, and its export control list, which blocked them from receiving certain dual-use items (see 2504090017 and 2504040024). Beijing will suspend those restrictions for 90 days from May 14, the Ministry of Commerce said, according to unofficial translations.
Beijing has launched a "special operation" to crack down on illegal exports of critical minerals, such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten and other rare earths, according to an unofficial translation of a May 9 Ministry of Commerce notice. The ministry said China's Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism gathered agencies for a meeting to discuss how they can better stop export smuggling, specifically pointing to "overseas entities" that "have colluded with domestic illegal personnel" to evade Chinese export controls.