This past week, CTM covered the following issues.

In its 2026 government work report, the Chinese government vowed to open wider to the outside world while doubling down on manufacturing and homegrown innovation.

China's National People's Congress (NPC) meetings this week and Premier Li Qiang's government work report both struck a careful balance between acknowledging systemic challenges and maintaining growth targets, a leading U.S. analyst said.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi outlined a vision for 2026 as a landmark year for China's international relations while warning against global trade barriers and the weaponization of economic ties. 

China's Ministry of Transport (MOT) summoned officials from shipping giants Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping (MSC), a sign of Beijing’s efforts to safeguard its strategic overseas commercial interests.

The Trump administration announced that it was initiating Section 301 investigations on the acts, policies, and practices of various economies relating to "structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors." This issue has long been raised by the U.S. in the context of Chinese policies and practices, although a wide range of other economies will be subject to these investigations as well. It also initiated Section 301 investigations of 60 economies, including China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, to determine "whether acts, policies, and practices of each of these economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce."

In a U.S. court case related to an import ban on solar products by Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co., Ltd., involving concerns about forced labor, the U.S. government requested and received a court remand to reconsider its original determination. In its reconsideration, it concluded that Hoshine "has not sufficiently demonstrated full and effective remediation of forced labor within its operations and supply chain," and thus it would maintain the import ban.

The EU's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) has triggered a sharp response from Beijing, which accused Brussels of creating "serious investment barriers and systemic discrimination."

The Canadian government announced that in response to a court ruling, it was reversing a previous order that closed TikTok's offices in Canada, allowing them to stay open with certain "guardrails" in place. 

At a meeting of the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT) in late February, a number of China-Canada trade and investment issues were discussed by Members of Parliament and several expert witnesses.