On an issue that puts climate change and concerns about trade with China in conflict, the U.S. Congress has tried to overturn a Biden administration move to pause tariffs on solar panel imports from Chinese companies operating in several Southeast Asian countries, but President Biden vetoed the Congressional action.

U.S. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Angus King (I-ME) have introduced a resolution that calls for reform of the special and differential treatment rules at the WTO, so that China is not able to self-designate as a developing country.

A member of Congress from Florida has reintroduced legislation to ban imports of citrus from China. This legislation followed the authorization of these imports as part of the Phase One deal, even though U.S. citrus imports from China have remained limited after the deal.

Last week, two Members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on ocean shipping, targeting certain Chinese products and entities.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would "direct the President to develop a strategy to eliminate American technologies capable of supporting undersea cables from falling into the hands of our adversaries."

Today, the European Parliament, the EU Council, and the European Commission announced a "breakthrough" on the main outstanding issues in the legislative process of the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), bringing the measure closer to entry into force. Various Chinese government actions could be targeted by this measure.

World Bank lending to China was in the news twice last week, as the outgoing President of the World Bank discussed it in an interview and a group of U.S. Senators introduced legislation on the issue.