President Xi's State Visit Brings Announcements on Cybersecurity and Climate Change
Kate Benner

In late September, Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to the United States. Cybersecurity and climate change dominated the bilateral announcements during his visit, but U.S.-China investment treaty negotiations, which have been underway since 2008, may have also advanced.

Prior to President Xi's visit, President Obama expressed opposition to Chinese electronic commercial espionage, such as the theft of trade secrets, and noted that the administration was preparing countermeasures. During President Xi's two days in Washington, DC, Presidents Obama and Xi announced that their countries had agreed not to conduct or support cyber-theft of intellectual property, and to increase cooperation for cybercrime investigations. However, President Obama stated that he had informed President Xi that the United States would apply sanctions against cybercriminals if needed.

The leaders also issued a joint statement on climate change, and China announced that it would begin implementation of a nationwide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. This follows emissions-reduction targets that China announced during President Obama's state visit to Beijing last year, as well as smaller municipal and provincial cap-and-trade programs that China has implemented over the last several years.

Before beginning bilateral discussions in Washington, DC, President Xi spent time in Washington state, where he met with U.S. and Chinese business leaders. President Xi promised reforms that would expand trade relations between the two countries, and emphasized the continued strength and resilience of the Chinese economy. Boeing announced Chinese orders and commitments for 300 planes that were made during President Xi's visit to the company's plant in Everett, Washington. These aircraft will be finished in China, at Boeing's first international airline assembly plant.

Ex-Im Bank Remains Closed for New Business
Lauren M. Donoghue

The future of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) remains uncertain after Congress allowed the Bank's charter to expire at the end of June 2015. With Speaker of the House John Boehner's (R-OH) announcement last week that he intends to step down, the Bank's supporters expressed a new sense of urgency for renewal efforts. The Speaker is the only one of the top three House Republican leaders who supports Ex-Im. The leading candidate to replace him, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), is opposed to an extension. Ex-Im supporters expressed hope that Speaker Boehner will allow a vote on the Bank's charter before he departs at the end of October. "Hopefully the speaker will make this one of his gifts going out," said Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN), a leading House backer of renewal. On Friday, Rep. Fincher introduced legislation that would renew Ex-Im for five years, a bill which is identical to one that passed the Senate in July with bipartisan support. The bill would likely have enough bipartisan backing to be reauthorized if brought to the House floor for a vote, despite continued objections of conservatives.

In the past few weeks, General Electric announced that it would be moving hundreds of jobs to factories overseas and Boeing announced the loss of several contracts with customers outside the United States, developments that both companies attributed to the lack of access to Ex-Im financing.

California Peels Back "Made in America" Requirement
Elizabeth Owerbach

On September 1, California enacted legislation making substantial changes to its "Made in America" laws. As reported in the July 2015 Trade & Manufacturing Alert, California had previously stood alone among U.S. states in requiring that products be 100 percent comprised of U.S. components in order to be labeled as "Made in America." California's amended legislation will now permit products to receive the "Made in America" label if: 1) foreign components do not make up more than 5 percent of the final wholesale value of the product, or 2) foreign parts do not make up more than 10 percent of the final wholesale value and the manufacturer makes a special showing that the foreign components are not available in the United States.

This move by California follows months of friction over its previous 100 percent rule. In contrast to the former California law, the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) labeling standard requires that "all or virtually all" of a product be made in the United States. Nevertheless, in May, a federal judge in California allowed a challenge against Citizens of Humanity Jeans to progress, finding that the California law was not preempted by the less stringent FTC standard. Then in June, a group of Senators introduced legislation clarifying that federal "Made in America" standards supersede individual state requirements.

The National Law Review reports that California's amendment has been met with "[a]n audible sigh of relief from domestic manufacturers everywhere," and will alleviate burdensome requirements to "maintain multiple label inventories and juggle competing domestic and foreign country of origin marking requirements."