This past week, CTM covered the following issues.

In international negotiations, China and the Republic of the Congo signed an early harvest agreement on trade, with China granting tariff-free treatment to goods from the African country; and China and Georgia formally concluded negotiations to upgrade their Free Trade Agreement.

Mounting political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan are rapidly spilling into the economic sphere, with China initiating a travel advisory and postponing the release of Japanese films.

In a recently released report, researchers at AidData offered a number of insights into Chinese lending, including the following points: This lending has become more opaque in recent years; it does not go exclusively to developing countries; and the total amounts involved are larger than previously understood but have declined a bit.

Recent interviews and statements regarding the conflict over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia (Netherlands) have exposed the divergent strategic priorities of the Netherlands and China, as part of the broader geopolitical split between China and the West. After bilateral meetings, the Dutch government announced that it was suspending its order targeting Nexperia, marking a de-escalation in the heated two-month dispute. However, the action is separate from a prevailing court ruling that restricts control over the company, leaving the underlying dispute unresolved.

In the U.S., as the Trump administration continues to announce trade deals, provisions that target China have been a key element of each one.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released its annual report to Congress, with recommendations as to how the U.S. government should respond to various concerns about China through supply chain resilience, investment screening, trade remedies, and other measures.

In an ongoing countervailing duty investigation before the U.S. Department of Commerce, the governments of both China and Cambodia are trying to convince Commerce that WTO law and U.S. law do not allow for countervailing duties to be imposed on the basis of subsidies provided by a government to companies operating in another country.