Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Beijing this week, where she talked about balancing bilateral trade and investment, and signed sectoral agreements in a number of areas, including electric vehicles and renewable energy.

On Friday, the EU requested WTO consultations with Taiwan, arguing that Taiwan's local content requirements in its offshore wind policy violate WTO rules.

This past week, CTM covered the following issues. In China: * CCP document after the third plenum * MOFCOM updates anti-dumping investigations on EU pork and US propionic acid * MOFCOM comments on EU anti-dumping duties on biodiesel, as well as trade and investment policy * MFA removes entity from sanction list * Chinese auto

At today's meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), the U.S. blocked China's panel request on subsidies provided under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but the establishment of a panel cannot be blocked the next time China requests it.

At a press conference today, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) provided comments on the EU's anti-dumping duties on Chinese biodiesel, the renewed effort to bolster cross-border trade and investment with risk control, and China's outbound investment.

On July 23, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency body that reviews certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to determine the effect on national security, released its annual report to Congress for 2024.

Nippon Steel's offer to buy U.S. Steel has generated controversy in the U.S., in part due to Nippon's connections with Chinese producer Baosteel. In the midst of a national security investigation of the U.S. Steel purchase, Nippon has now severed this China tie.