Ministry of Commerce (Pakistan)

• Lomiko Metals Inc. (TSX.V: LMR) (“Lomiko Metals” or the “Company”) reflects on the news regarding China's announcements to limit and restrict graphite exports, both natural flake graphite and synthetic graphite.
• Graphite is a material employed in electric vehicle batteries, as well as in various industries such as semiconductors, aerospace, chemicals, and steel.
• China maintains a dominant position in global graphite production, with the United States 100% dependent on the importation of graphite and anode materials.
• Management will be participating at the following Fall events:
  Lomiko announces the Company’s virtual Annual and Special Meeting will be held on December 20th, 2023.

• QINGDAO, China, Oct. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The opening ceremony of the fourth Qingdao Multinationals Summit was held today in Qingdao, Shandong province.
• The summit is jointly organized by China's Ministry of Commerce and the Shandong Provincial Government.
• The event brought together top management executives from 416 companies.
• The summit also organized Multinational Corporation Symposium, Closed Door Meeting, China's Policy Interpretation and Project Promotion Conference on Attracting Foreign Investment and the Yellow River Basin Investment Cooperation Promotion Conference, Shandong Provincial Government Economic Consulting Consultant Conference, Shandong Provincial Industry Promotion Conference, Multinational Corporation Promotion Conference, etc.

• HEFEI, China, Sept. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2023 World Manufacturing Convention commenced on Sept 20 in Hefei, capital of China's Anhui province.
• At the opening ceremony, organizers unveiled the "2023 China Top 500 Manufacturing Enterprises" list, spotlighting innovative technologies and products emerging from Anhui's manufacturing sector and gaining traction both on the home turf and the global stage.
• Running from September 20 to 24 in Hefei, the 2023 Convention unfolds under the banner "Intelligent Manufacturing for a Better Future."
• Since its launch in 2018, the World Manufacturing Convention has marked five successive years of industry influence.

• After a recent meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Beijing, China released a statement demanding “practical action” over the issue of sanctions.
• Clearly, the economic measures are hurting China – prompting not only tough words but also countermeasures to limit their impact.
• As a professor of law and an expert on international trade, I study both how the U.S. sanctions China and how China attempts to counter these sanctions.

How sanctions work

• Economic sanctions are considered an important foreign policy tool that can be used to influence and change the behavior of countries.
• Some sanctions are intended to restrict China’s technological capabilities by limiting access to key tech suppliers.
• In the case of China, sanctions have harmed producers and consumers in both countries.
• With primary sanctions, the U.S., for example, forbids imports of any product from the country being sanctioned.
• Primary sanctions also bar all U.S. companies from doing any business with the country or entities within it.

Targeting individuals and businesses

• In recent years, U.S. sanctions against China have become more targeted against specific individuals, products and companies.
• Individuals and businesses on the list have their assets blocked, and U.S. citizens are prohibited from dealing with them.
• There are hundreds of Chinese individuals and businesses on the list, including officials in China’s Hong Kong liaison office and major corporations such as China National Electronic Import-Export Company.
• Blocking statutes typically allow an individual or business to not comply with U.S. laws and require individuals and businesses to notify authorities about any U.S. sanction enforcement measures.

China’s countermeasures

• The Chinese government has taken several countermeasures to retaliate against U.S. sanctions in recent years.
• In addition, censured individuals or businesses can be slapped with a freezing of assets and prevented from doing business in China.
• Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these countermeasures is unclear.
• There are no available statistics to determine whether they have mitigated the impact of U.S. sanctions.

Caught in the middle

• Imposing sanctions and countersanctions can make it difficult for any foreign country or company that wants to do business in both countries.
• Both the U.S. and China are likely to not push sanctions too hard, so as not to engage in a full-blown trade war.
• In the meantime, Huawei has seen a decline in revenue and shifted money toward more research and development.
• The experience of Huawei underscores why Beijing is eager to find a way to counter U.S. sanctions.
• It seems that at least for now China has settled on a policy of blocking tactics at home while upping rhetoric on the international stage.