Steven Jiang and Ben Westcott 05/23/2018 US officials have issued a health alert in China after a US government employee stationed there reported "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure" that indicated a mild brain injury. The US State Department is looking into whether the report is similar to incidents in Cuba in 2016 and 2017, an American official told CNN, in which so-called "sonic attacks... Read more »

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) issued the below statement after voting for S.2155, to provide regulatory relief for Washington state’s community banks and local credit unions, and encourage a better banking experience for Washingtonians. “While the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act is not perfect, this bill provides a measured approach and brings much needed relief for comm... Read more »

Megan Cassella 5/22/2018 U.S. voters are almost as likely to believe President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Chinese goods would hurt American consumers as they are to think the Chinese would suffer, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows. The survey of nearly 2,000 registered voters found that 47 percent felt raising tariffs would have the Trump administration's intended effect of hurtin... Read more »

Bloomberg: China Makes Massive Cut to Car Tariffs After Truce With Trump Bloomberg Staff 05/22/2018 China will cut the import duty on passenger cars to 15 percent, further opening up a market that's been a chief target of the U.S. in its trade fight with the world's second-largest economy. The Finance Ministry said Tuesday the levy will be lowered effective July 1 from the current 25 percent that ... Read more »

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/22/china-us-tech-companies-cfius-572413 Cory Bennett and Bryan Bender 05/22/2018 The U.S. government was well aware of China’s aggressive strategy of leveraging private investors to buy up the latest American technology when, early last year, a company called Avatar Integrated Systems showed up at a bankruptcy court in Delaware hoping to buy the California ch... Read more »

Daniel Oberhaus 05/21/2018 On Sunday night the China National Space Administration launched a communications satellite on a Long March rocket on a 280,000 mile journey to orbit the moon. The lunar orbiter is the initial step in realizing China's ambition to be the first country to place a lander on the far side of the moon. As the first communications relay satellite in orbit around the moon, the... Read more »

Doug Palmer 05/21/2018 U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that the Trump administration was considering possible changes to a penalty imposed on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, but insisted that had no connection to ongoing trade talks. "I think there are plenty of people who are trying to make this out to be something it's not," Mnuchin said in a interview on CNBC about a p... Read more »

Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway 05/21/2018 Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics. The recent trade tensions between the Trump administration and China has shone a light on the country's ambitions to become a technology powerhouse, as one of the complaints is that China unfairly extracts intellectua... Read more »

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) issued the below statement ahead of voting against the Farm Bill, which would negatively impact Washington’s Second Congressional District: “Washington state is the most trade-dependent state in the country, thanks in part to agriculture. The Farm Bill is an opportunity every five years for Congress to help Washington state farmers stay competitive in a global market. Ther... Read more »

—U.S.-China Working Group Co-Chairs Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) and Rep. Darin LaHood (IL-18) met with Deputy to the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region BAIMAWANGDUI last week to discuss the future of the region, assistance to the region, energy development and human rights. Following the meeting, Reps. Larsen and LaHood issued the below statement: “The U.S.-China Working Group provides a fo... Read more »