Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has begun legal proceedings and taken “strict disciplinary actions” against former or current employees involved in stealing sensitive technology from the company (see 2508050043), it confirmed this week.
A potential Chinese blockade of Taiwan could significantly affect trade routes to and from Asia, along with broader supply chains that depend on the region, said Eric Heginbotham, an international studies research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ministry of Finance jointly decided to start an antidumping duty investigation on nickel-added cold-rolled stainless steel coil, sheet and strip from China and Taiwan, they announced. The investigation, which will take a year, was opened following a petition from Japanese producers Nippon Steel, Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., NAS Stainless Steel Strip Manufacturing Co. and Nippon Kinzoku. The ministries noted that the investigation also covers the customs territories of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu but excludes the regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
China has made several arrests and begun multiple investigations involving exports of critical minerals since launching a special operation earlier this year to crack down on the smuggling of those minerals (see 2505090018), its Ministry of Commerce said July 19.
Beijing last week said it’s seeing the U.S. approve exports of Nvidia H20 chips to China and urged the Trump administration to roll back other restrictions against the country.
China is placing new dual-use export restrictions on eight entities based in Taiwan about a month after Taiwan added major Chinese technology companies Huawei and SMIC to its Entity List (see 2506160008).
China is imposing antidumping duties ranging from 27.7% to 34.9% for five years on brandy imported from the EU, China's Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. The duties won't apply to a list of 34 EU brandy products whose companies agreed to certain "price commitments" for their sales to China, a ministry spokesperson said. The new rates took effect July 5.
Beijing is barring European companies from selling medical devices to the Chinese government in retaliation for a similar measure announced by the European Commission last month (see 2506200015).
Beijing is following through on a trade agreement recently reached with Washington by approving license applications for certain exports to the U.S., a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said July 4 in response to a reporter's question at a press conference, without providing specific details.
China this week criticized President Donald Trump's national security memorandum outlining a tougher approach to Cuba (see 2507010040), saying the U.S.'s "barbarian blockade and illegal sanctions" have violated Cuba's freedoms and hurt its people. "China firmly supports Cuba in following a development path fit for its national conditions, and opposes U.S. moves to abuse unilateral sanctions under the pretext of 'freedom' and 'democracy,'" a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said during a regularly scheduled July 2 press conference, according to an unofficial translation. "We urge the U.S. to immediately lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba and remove the country from the list of 'state sponsors of terrorism.'"