This past week, CTM covered the following issues.

China’s judicial system has stepped into a high-stakes legal battle over global semiconductor supply chains, freezing up to $300 million in domestic assets belonging to Dutch chipmaker Nexperia.

As part of China's ongoing foreign trade national security investigation targeting imported printing and copying office equipment pre-installed with foreign-developed software, Beijing has now entered the evidence-gathering phase and issued an interested-party questionnaire.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the Draft Measures for Overseas Investment Management to implement the new regulations governing outbound investment. Replacing the 2017 framework, the draft implements a recent regulation to create stronger protections for Chinese overseas interests.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce launched a defense of its foreign trade position, pushing back against U.S. claims of economic imbalance, threatening retaliation against France over a new anti-fast-fashion law, and warning the European Union against using market access as leverage. The official also highlighted new deals signed with Egypt and Kyrgyzstan.

A bipartisan bill to "direct the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to conduct a comprehensive study of the national and economic security risks foreign adversaries pose to the United States automotive industry" has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

At the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in North Carolina this week, the Trump administration continued to highlight its concerns with China's trade surplus.

A recent U.S. court ruling held that the Trump administration's decision to end the de minimis exemption from tariffs for low-value imports was legal.

At a European Parliament International Trade Committee meeting, there were discussions of both the broader EU trade agenda in relation to China and specific details of an OECD report on subsidies.

Australia's Productivity Commission issued an interim report in a safeguard investigation on imports of fabricated structural steel, concluding that the increase in imports was not high enough to justify trade restrictions.

At a WTO meeting earlier this year, China raised concerns about the EU's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, with the EU providing assurances that it would take into account the trade concerns of other governments.