Trump isn't Beijing's only trade headache, as the EU targets Chinese medical devices
Global investors are paying close attention to U.S.-China trade tensions this week. Tensions are simmering as Washington and Beijing accuse each other of undermining last month's agreement–and officials hint of a possible phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.
But the U.S. isn't Beijing's only headache. On Monday, members of the European Union voted to block Chinese companies from bidding for public procurement tenders for medical devices for contracts valued over 5 million euros ($5.7 million) for the next five years.
It's the first use of the EU's 'International Procurement Instrument,' a 2022 law designed to encourage reciprocity in overseas procurement markets.
Brussels has accused China of systematically discriminating against European providers. A European Commission investigation in January found that 87% of sampled Chinese public tenders discriminated, directly and indirectly, against imported medical equipment.
The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU called on Brussels to reconsider its decision, saying the measures add 'new complexity to China-EU economic and trade relations.'
Medical devices are just one area where Brussels and Beijing are butting heads on trade.
In October, the EU slapped tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese-made electric vehicles to combat what it deemed to be an unfair level of state subsidies.
The EU has also opened anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into wind turbines, wood flooring, trucks, and passenger car tires.
Brussels is also monitoring whether China's exports are being rerouted to Europe after Trump imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods. It has previously flagged industrial overcapacity in China as a concern, fearing that a flood of cheap goods could threaten European industry.
China has fought back with its own probes, specifically into European brandy, pork and dairy products.
Some of China's neighbors are also worried about a flood of cheap goods from the world's second-largest economy. Those fears could spark a 'tariff cascade', as countries erect new import duties to protect their local industries. Vietnam and South Korea both imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel earlier this year.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
16 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
South Korea Says Trump Agrees to Ramp Up Tariff Talks With Lee
South Korea said newly elected President Lee Jae-myung spoke for the first time with Donald Trump and agreed to seek 'tangible results' in trade negotiations, after the US leader imposed a 25% tariff on all imports from its Asian ally. 'The two presidents agreed to work toward a mutually satisfactory agreement on tariff consultations between South Korea and the US as soon as possible,' presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a statement after Friday's talks. The nations would have 'working-level negotiations,' she added.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
AP PHOTOS: Life in Iran's capital, Tehran, as high-stakes nuclear negotiations with the US go on
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — As I prepared to take a photograph of an anti-American mural outside of the former U.S. Embassy in Iran's capital recently, a passerby called out to me. 'Take any picture you like, they'll remove all of them later,' the man said. It was a telling moment as the murals have long been a feature of the U.S. Embassy compound, which has been held and run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a cultural center since the 1979 student-led hostage crisis there destroyed ties between Iran and the United States. Today, Iran is talking to America about a possible diplomatic deal over its nuclear program and the idea of ties between the West and the outside world again seems possible, though difficult. That's especially true after President Donald Trump's new travel ban includes Iran once more. The thing about taking pictures and working as a photojournalist in Tehran, my hometown, is that Iranians will come up to you in the street and tell you what they think. And sometimes, even when they won't say something out loud, I'll see it in the images I capture. That's particularly true with the gradual change we have seen in how women dress, whether in ancient corridors of Tehran's Grand Bazaar or in the tony streets of northern Tehran. Women are forgoing the mandatory hijab , or headscarf, even as hard-liners try to pressure a renewed enforcement of the law against what they call the "Western Cultural Invasion.' The government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has meanwhile been urging restraint by police and others over the hijab. There are enough problems right now in Iran is their thought, particularly as Iran's economy remains in dire straits. U.S. sanctions have decimated it. Iran's rial currency has plummeted in recent years. That economic hardship has made people more distrustful of the country's theocracy. And so people continue their daily lives in Tehran as they wait for any news after five rounds of talks so far between Iran and the U.S. You can see it in my photos. A carpet-seller waits to sell his wares in a darkened bazaar corner. Women without hijabs smoke shisha, or water-pipe tobacco. Another woman, wearing an all-black, all-encompassing chador, prays in a mosque's courtyard. It can all appear contradictory, but that's life here. Tehran, home to some 10 million people, is the ever-growing beating heart of Iran. And as it awaits the results of the negotiations, it can feel like it is skipping beats in anticipation. ___ See more AP photography at
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What the Trump travel ban means for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games
GENEVA (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump often says the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are among the events he is most excited about in his second term. Yet there is significant uncertainty regarding visa policies for foreign visitors planning trips to the U.S. for the two biggest events in sports. Trump's latest travel ban on citizens from 12 countries added new questions about the impact on the World Cup and the Summer Olympics, which depend on hosts opening their doors to the world. Here's a look at the potential effects of the travel ban on those events. What is the travel ban policy? When Sunday ticks over to Monday, citizens of 12 countries should be banned from entering the U.S. They are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Tighter restrictions will apply to visitors from seven more: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Trump said some countries had 'deficient' screening and vetting processes or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. How does it affect the World Cup and Olympics? Iran, a soccer power in Asia, is the only targeted country to qualify so far for the World Cup being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico in one year's time. Cuba, Haiti and Sudan are in contention. Sierra Leone might stay involved through multiple playoff games. Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Libya have very outside shots. But all should be able to send teams to the World Cup if they qualify because the new policy makes exceptions for 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.' About 200 countries could send athletes to the Summer Games, including those targeted by the latest travel restrictions. The exceptions should apply to them as well if the ban is still in place in its current form. What about fans? The travel ban doesn't mention any exceptions for fans from the targeted countries wishing to travel to the U.S. for the World Cup or Olympics. Even before the travel ban, fans of the Iran soccer team living in that country already had issues about getting a visa for a World Cup visit. Still, national team supporters often profile differently to fans of club teams who go abroad for games in international competitions like the UEFA Champions League. For many countries, fans traveling to the World Cup — an expensive travel plan with hiked flight and hotel prices — are often from the diaspora, wealthier, and could have different passport options. A World Cup visitor is broadly higher-spending and lower-risk for host nation security planning. Visitors to an Olympics are often even higher-end clients, though tourism for a Summer Games is significantly less than at a World Cup, with fewer still from most of the 19 countries now targeted. How is the U.S. working with FIFA, Olympic officials? FIFA President Gianni Infantino has publicly built close ties since 2018 to Trump — too close according to some. He has cited the need to ensure FIFA's smooth operations at a tournament that will earn a big majority of the soccer body's expected $13 billion revenue from 2023-26. Infantino sat next to Trump at the White House task force meeting on May 6 which prominently included Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. FIFA's top delegate on the task force is Infantino ally Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs partner whose two-year run as U.S. Soccer Federation president ended in controversy in 2020. Any visa and security issues FIFA faces — including at the 32-team Club World Cup that kicks off next week in Miami — can help LA Olympics organizers finesse their plans. 'It was very clear in the directive that the Olympics require special consideration and I actually want to thank the federal government for recognizing that," LA28 chairman and president Casey Wasserman said Thursday in Los Angeles. 'It's very clear that the federal government understands that that's an environment that they will be accommodating and provide for,' he said. 'We have great confidence that that will only continue. It has been the case to date and it will certainly be the case going forward through the games.' In March, at an IOC meeting in Greece, Wasserman said he had two discreet meetings with Trump and noted the State Department has a "fully staffed desk' to help prepare for short-notice visa processing in the summer of 2028 — albeit with a focus on teams rather than fans. IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz, who is chair of the Coordination Commission for LA28, expressed 'every confidence' that the U.S. government will cooperate, as it did in hosting previous Olympics. 'That is something that we will be definitely looking at and making sure that it is guaranteed as well,' she said. 'We are very confident that this is going to be accomplished. I'm sure this is going to be executed well." FIFA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the new Trump travel ban. What have other host nations done? The 2018 World Cup host Russia let fans enter the country with a game ticket doubling as their visa. So did Qatar four years later. Both governments, however, also performed background checks on all visitors coming to the month-long soccer tournaments. Governments have refused entry to unwelcome visitors. For the 2012 London Olympics, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko — who is still its authoritarian leader today — was denied a visa despite also leading its national Olympic body. The IOC also suspended him from the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. ___ AP Sports Writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ___ AP soccer: and AP Olympics at
