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Bank of China, Huawei, Tianjin Pipe, and Tianjin Jilin International Steel among Chinese firms targeted for ‘serious violations’ of US trade sanctions
US adds a dozen Chinese companies to its trade blacklist
The United States is to add 12 Chinese companies to its list of those not permitted to import products into the country.
The list will include Bank of China, Huawei, Tianjin Pipe Group, Tianjin Jilin International Steel, China’s Tianjin Tianhai Investment Holding Company, and Li Tong Co Ltd, a recycling company in southern China, the US commerce department said on Tuesday.
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“We are removing [these companies] from our list of Chinese imports subject to US trade sanctions due to their serious violations of US trade sanctions and were given no other reasonable alternatives by the Chinese government,” said Margaret Shanahan, acting under secretary for export administration.
Shanahan said the United States was also seeking to list three additional companies.
In 2016, a $6bn smartphone parts deal between Foxconn and an unnamed US company was abandoned because of the US sanctions against the Chinese firm, responsible for the assembly of Apple products.
The latest action is the first legal step required by the US Congress before those 12 companies can start selling US-bound products to American importers. The sanctions cannot stop US companies from doing business with the Chinese firms.
China will impose its own restrictions, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry said it will restrict import and export of the products “added to the US sanctions list”, among other steps.
China’s agriculture ministry will block imports of some products from the 12 Chinese firms, spokesman Mao Qian said, according to China Daily.
The US list, which covers more than 1,500 companies, companies in China and some overseas, includes India’s Bharat Forge Ltd and cement giant JSW Group, and Russia’s Lukoil.
Last month, Trump slapped new sanctions on Russia, as well as a blocking of Russian assets in the United States, to punish Moscow for what the administration said was its efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.