China will impose antidumping duties on certain stainless steel products imported from the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced in a July 23 press release. China said it is being “substantially damaged” by dumped imports of “stainless steel billet and hot-rolled stainless steel plate/coil” originating in the EU and the three other countries, and will impose antidumping duties ranging from 18.1 percent to 103.1 percent on these products. The duty rates will be in effect for five years, starting July 23, China said. The ruling stems from an investigation China began on July 23, 2018, the ministry said.

China’s Ministry of Commerce is conducting an antidumping investigation on imports of “N-propanol” originating in the U.S., the ministry said in a July 24 press release. The ministry said its investigation will include “n-Propylalcohol, 1-Propanol, 1-Propyl alcohol, Propan-1-ol, Ethylcarbinol or 1-Hydroxypropane.” China said it expects to complete its investigation before July 23, 2020.

In the July 25 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

Of the 10 Congress members who traveled to Mexico last weekend to evaluate the NAFTA rewrite as part of a congressional delegation, one was already planning to vote for the deal, others were leaning yes, and some others have always opposed free trade deals. For some of those who were leaning yes, their conversations with government officials and institutions that tackle environmental problems near the border moved them closer to voting yes. For others who were already skeptical, they returned even more skeptical.

In the July 13-24 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 22 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Canada is strengthening its antidumping regime “to better protect Canadian industry from unfair trade practices,” including making changes to its investigative and review procedures, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a July 19 press release. The changes update Canada’s criteria for beginning an investigation and detail “specific factors” for determining when CBSA should “initiate a full re-investigation or a more streamlined normal value review,” the release said.

Laos adopted a “legal framework” through new legislation that will allow it in the future to impose antidumping or countervailing penalties on imports, according to a July 17 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Previously, any “punitive recourse” for product dumping had “not been legally deliverable.” No product list has been developed.

The U.S. lost its appeal of a 2018 World Trade Organization decision that it had not properly calculated countervailing duties for Chinese pipes, tubular goods, solar panels, aluminum extrusions and other items. China had originally challenged the cases in 2016 -- the cases were brought between 2007 and 2012 (see 1805010071). The earlier ruling held that the U.S. was right to say that Chinese state-owned enterprises count as "public bodies" and therefore their actions can be market distorting. The appeal upheld that element of the case, but also upheld the victories for China. The WTO said that Commerce did not prove specificity in the subsidies for the products, and it also could not show how the SOE inputs distorted market prices. It was not allowed to use other countries' prices as reference points to prove market distortions, the WTO said, unless it had specific evidence that government interference in the market warranted that. The appeal said that countries' ability to use other countries' prices in CVD cases is "very limited."

In the July 5 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: