This past week, CTM covered the following issues: * Chinese graphite exports * Report on foreign-invested enterprises in China * U.S. anti-dumping determination on processed graphite * New Section 232 cases on polysilicon and unmanned aircraft systems (drones) * Chinese government submissions in ongoing Section 232 cases * Trump administration orders divestment of Chinese acquisition

In a decision issued today, the U.S. Department of Commerce made a preliminary determination in an anti-dumping (AD) duty case involving imports of processed graphite from China, an input used in battery production.

While U.S. Section 232 national security investigations of imported products are mostly political exercises, there is nevertheless an opportunity for interested parties to submit their views, and the Chinese government has been doing so in the various investigations that are currently underway.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Beijing yesterday, with trade relations in general and the China-Australia FTA (ChAFTA) in particular as two of the key topics of discussion.

China's exports of natural graphite are rebounding over the first four months of 2025, recovering from an initial dip after China revised its regulations in late 2023, when it expanded the list of controlled graphite types.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that it has initiated two new investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to determine the effects on U.S. national security of imports of polysilicon and unmanned aircraft systems (drones).

Following up on an earlier inquiry, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced a new inquiry into TikTok's practices related to the transfer of European user data to China.