Simon Lester

This past week, CTM covered the following issues. In China: * Official efforts to stabilize foreign investment and boost trade * A debt restructuring with Ecuador, restored railway service with North Korea * Authorization of imports of aquatic products from Papua New Guinea * Chinese EV maker's investment in foreign lithium project In the

The discussion of U.S. legislative or executive action on outbound investment screening, with a focus on American investments in China, is heating up.

In a letter sent to several Biden administration officials, Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) led a group of 51 Republicans in raising concerns over "the recent acquisition of farmland near a U.S. military installation by a Chinese-based manufacturer with close links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."

A new report by IVPM and National Review alleges that Amazon is engaging in two practices that "raise legal, national security, and ethical concerns" related to U.S.-China economic relations, and suggests there may be violations of a U.S. statute as a result.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is pressing the Biden Administration on a possible Energy Department loan to support a U.S. lithium mine investment by a company with ties to Chinese lithium company Ganfeng.

U.S. state level laws that prohibit purchases from companies owned or operated by the Chinese government may start proliferating, as several states have moved forward with their laws and a national conservative organization is pushing them. An example from earlier this year is legislation enacted in the state of

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered some brief comments on Canada-China relations, in which he called China "a real challenging actor in the [Pacific] region," and as a new Canadian Ambassador to China was appointed.