To assist foreign trade enterprises in precisely avoiding risks when going global and enhance their legal capacity to respond to trade and investment restrictions, recently, Jian GUAN, a lawyer from Grandwin Law Firm, was invited as a guest on the third episode of the "CCPIT Legal Talks" public legal education program. Focusing on the theme "How to Deal with Trade and Investment Restrictive Measures," he shared professional insights, helping enterprises identify potential risk points beyond tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and provided targeted recommendations.

In previous episodes, Partner Jian GUAN had already provided in-depth explanations of tariff and non-tariff barriers. This episode focused on other restrictive measures in the trade and investment field. Partner Jian GUAN got straight to the point, pointing out that currently, besides traditional barriers, enterprises going global are increasingly facing restrictive measures based on security considerations and targeting ownership status, which require high attention.

Discussing security-related restrictive measures, Partner Jian GUAN provided legal interpretations using typical cases. He mentioned that in 2018, the US initiated Section 232 investigations on imported steel and aluminum products on national security grounds and imposed tariffs, and the scope of similar measures has continuously expanded since then. On one hand, the US implements export controls on dual-use items, listing multiple Chinese high-tech enterprises on the Entity List. On the other hand, countries like the US, UK, and Australia restrict market access for Chinese enterprises' telecommunications equipment on the grounds of "threatening national security," and this restriction has extended from the telecommunications sector to areas involving hardware and software facilities like connected vehicles. For example, in September this year, the US explicitly banned the import and sale of certain connected vehicles produced by countries including China and Russia. Furthermore, security reviews are particularly stringent in the foreign investment field, with enterprises involved in the design, R&D, and manufacturing of sensitive sectors like nuclear power generation, semiconductor manufacturing, and biotechnology often facing stricter scrutiny.

Regarding restrictive measures targeting ownership status, Partner Jian GUAN indicated that such restrictions have shown an increasingly stringent trend in recent years. Taking the US as an example, the "Poison Pill Clause" in the 2018 USMCA explicitly stipulates that investors from non-market economy countries cannot resort to the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism under the agreement. Multiple laws introduced in 2024, such as the CHIPS Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, restrict trade and investment activities of enterprises from countries like China by introducing concepts such as "foreign entity of concern" and "country of concern." Notably, if certain heads of Chinese enterprises hold positions as People's Congress representatives or CPPCC members, the overseas Chinese-invested enterprises owned or controlled by them and their relatives may also fall within the scope of restrictions. Partner Jian GUAN also mentioned that Trump stated during his campaign that he would take further restrictive measures against Chinese enterprises circumventing tariffs through regions like Southeast Asia and Mexico, a risk worth watching in the future.

Restrictive measures by the EU in this area have also attracted considerable attention. Partner Jian GUAN analyzed that although the EU rarely directly discriminates against Chinese enterprises based on ownership status, the implementation of some regulations actually increases the compliance burden for Chinese-invested companies. Taking the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation implemented this year as an example, although it appears to apply indiscriminately to all enterprises, it requires bidders participating in EU public procurements to report information on foreign subsidies received by their parent companies. This requirement forces overseas Chinese-invested enterprises participating in EU public procurement to comprehensively review their Chinese parent companies' subsidy situations, increasing operational costs and severely limiting the participation of Chinese-invested enterprises in the EU public procurement market.

Faced with an increasingly complex environment of trade and investment restrictions, how can enterprises find a way forward? Partner Jian GUAN provided clear suggestions during the public legal education session. He emphasized that although such restrictions are not yet universal risks, once they occur, they directly test an enterprise's ultimate survival capability. Enterprises should prepare in advance, starting with optimizing the equity structure of overseas subsidiaries, adjusting business models, and carefully selecting partners, to reduce the risk of being designated as a "foreign entity of concern." Simultaneously, enterprises need to strengthen their survival capabilities in the domestic market, deeply cultivate the home market, master independently controllable core technologies, and build a solid foundation for dealing with potential overseas restrictions.

With this, the special legal knowledge series on "How Enterprises Should Respond to Economic and Trade Restrictive Measures" on the "CCPIT Legal Talks" program has been successfully concluded. Partner Jian GUAN's professional sharing across three episodes has constructed a comprehensive knowledge system for enterprises to manage risks when going global, effectively enhancing their legal compliance awareness. In the future,Grandwin Law Firm will continue to fulfill its responsibility in public legal education, contributing professional legal strength to escort enterprises in high-quality overseas expansion.