The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's John Murphy said that manufacturers are some of the biggest supporters of free trade deals because half their goods are exported.

Nardello & Co., a global investigations firm, opened an office in Los Angeles that will be led by Managing Director Amie Chang, the firm announced. Chang returns to the U.S. from the firm's Hong Kong office, where she worked on various due diligence investigations, providing litigation support and aiding sensitive political risk engagements in China, the firm said. Prior to joining the firm, Chang worked as a DOD intelligence analyst and as a State Department diplomat. The firm's focus includes white collar criminal and civil litigation, due diligence, anti-corruption and fraud investigations, and asset tracing.

The demand for batteries will dramatically increase over the next several years, eventually outpacing supply, panelists said during a July 26 Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in each of the countries that have signed onto the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum issued a joint statement strongly supporting the IPEF but also suggesting that tariff reductions be considered. "That is the best way to achieve the most meaningful benefits for American businesses, workers, and consumers," they said June 23.

Almost 40 agricultural trade groups, along with two port and perishable logistics trade groups, asked the U.S. trade representative to reduce, lift or suspend tariffs so that China would lift its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. crops. “Tariff relief could not come at a more important time,” the trade groups said in a letter. “Rural America and small businesses are facing significant challenges due to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistical and supply chain disruptions, record levels of inflation, and the increasing impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine. "

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company believes it’s well-insulated from any disruption in the supply of raw materials due to the war in Ukraine, CEO C.C. Wei said on a Q1 earnings call April 14. TSMC, the world’s largest wafer foundry, “operates a well-established enterprise risk management system to identify and access all relevant risk and proactively implement risk mitigation strategies,” he said. “In terms of material supply, TSMC’s strategy is to continuously develop multi-source supply solutions to build a well-diversified global supplier base and to improve the local supply chain.” For specialty chemicals and gases, including neon -- available in large volumes from Ukraine before the Russian invasion -- “we source from multiple suppliers in different regions, and we have prepared a certain level of inventory stock on hand,” Wei said. “We are also working closely with our suppliers to further strengthen the resilience and the sustainability of our supply chain. Thus, we do not expect any impact on our operations from materials supply.”

Shipping equipment companies Cargotec and Konecranes ditched their bid to make a merger of equals one day after DOJ told them that their settlement proposal was insufficient to address important competition concerns in four areas of shipping container handling equipment used by port customers to move goods, DOJ said March 29. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority also blocked the transaction. Cargotec and Konecranes both provide container handling equipment services to port terminals across the globe. In October 2020, the firms announced their intent to combine under a $5 billion deal. Following an Antitrust Division investigation, DOJ said that the transaction "would have eliminated intense competition" between the two rival companies in already highly concentrated markets. CMA found that British customers would have few remaining alternative suppliers if the companies combined.

HP has suspended shipments to Russia “in compliance” with the Biden administration’s sanctions over the Ukraine invasion, CEO Enrique Lores said Feb. 28 on an earnings call about fiscal Q1 ended Jan. 31. “The difficult situation in Ukraine is the latest in a series of global challenges we have faced,” he said.

The Information Technology Industry Council is asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to push Indonesia to drop tariffs on technology products during Trade and Investment Framework Agreement meetings in February. Data center and networking equipment, printers, solid state drives and other products covered by the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement are facing tariffs in Indonesia, the industry group said in a letter Jan. 27, even though Indonesia is a signatory to the ITA.

In its annual State of American Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chose to emphasize the need to double the level of legal immigration, its opposition to Build Back Better legislation and what it sees as overly aggressive antitrust enforcement over the need to remove tariffs on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Chinese imports. Three years ago, the Chamber was arguing that the tariffs needed to go (see 1901100007), but last year, admitted it was not politically feasible as it laid out its trade agenda (see 2101130057).