On October 15, the 2020 economic and trade friction response work promotion meeting was held in Quzhou.
The conference is hosted by Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and Quzhou City People’s Government, and organized by Zhejiang Provincial Foreign Trade Service Center and Quzhou City Bureau of Commerce.
Li Zengli, Deputy Director of the Trade Remedy Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, Jiang Hui, President of the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals, Import and Export, Zhang Shuming, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang Province, and Tian Jun, Deputy Mayor of Quzhou City People’s Government attended and delivered speeches.
The whole activity was carried out online through network broadcast, and the participating enterprises in the video end covered more than 400 enterprises in 105 warning points in the province.
Li Zengli provided an analysis report on the current global trade friction situation. Jiang Hui introduced the foreign trade situation in the mining and chemical industry, as well as the investigation and response work on trade remedies. Zhang Shuming gave a speech on promoting the response to economic and trade frictions in the field of trade relief in Zhejiang Province. Tian Jun introduced the basic situation of Quzhou City.
The meeting pointed out that the current global economic and trade friction situation is becoming increasingly severe, protectionism and unilateralism are prevalent, and the geopolitical game among major powers is intensifying. Zhejiang Province attaches great importance to and responds quickly, and always insists on all kinds of response work. Especially since this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the global economic and trade situation more serious. Zhejiang resolutely implements the relevant decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and has formed a Zhejiang work pattern of dedicated work, institutional advancement, and systematic response, and has achieved positive results. From January to August this year, the total import and export volume of the province was 2.12 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.1%, which is 7.7 percentage points higher than the national average. The growth rate continues to rank first among major coastal provinces and cities. Among them, exports reached 1.58 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1%; Imports reached 54.1.05 billion yuan, an increase of 10.4%. Dealing with trade frictions has also achieved good results: Zhejiang Best Nail Industry Company won the national minimum tax rate in the US code nail anti subsidy investigation; Zhejiang Juhua won a historic and comprehensive victory in the anti circumvention investigation of refrigerant products in the United States; Hangzhou Ouxing Huanmei achieved good results in the EU wheel hub case. These achievements have greatly inspired and boosted the confidence and determination of enterprises in dealing with trade friction cases.
At the meeting, a volunteer law firm stationed at the “Aid” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid Call Center in “Zhejiang” held a licensing ceremony. The Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce has signed a cooperation agreement with the China Minmetals and Chemical Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, aiming to strengthen cooperation between the two sides in early warning and response to trade frictions in Minmetals and chemical products, fully leverage the “four body linkage” mechanism for friction response, and achieve full linkage between government, business associations, and other intermediary organizations and enterprises, thereby helping enterprises to cope with trade frictions to the greatest extent possible.
The Zhejiang Province Trade Remedies Precision Service Platform and the “Zhejiang” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid Call Center have officially launched, and the 2020 “Zhejiang” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid – Enterprise Risk Prevention and Compliance Legal Examination Action has been officially launched. The Zhejiang Provincial Trade Remedies Service Platform is based on the provincial “Order+List” system and has established a “Zhejiang” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid Call Center on the platform. It has achieved trial operation in the early stage and will be officially launched at the meeting. The platform covers trade friction cases, technical trade barriers, foreign trade warning, legal aid, trade policy compliance, enterprise compliance, and other content. Through foreign trade warning, case response, legal services, and litigation feedback, the closed-loop management of trade remedy service enterprises is completed, forming a comprehensive intelligent service model in the field of trade remedy that is timely warning, precise service, convenient management, and effectively helping small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in our province to effectively respond to market risks. The “Assistance” – Legal Examination Action for Enterprise Risk Prevention and Compliance in “Zhejiang” is based on the work of the “Assistance” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid Call Center in “Zhejiang”. It further cooperates with professional law firms and institutions in the province, provides online and offline legal advisors or special legal services according to the actual needs of enterprises, and effectively helps foreign trade enterprises to effectively respond to market risks, establish compliance awareness and capabilities. At present, the call center has received positive responses from law firms both inside and outside the province, with a total of 9 law firms forming teams to voluntarily station at the call center.
At the meeting, Hu Xiaowen, Deputy General Manager of Zhejiang Juhua Co., Ltd., and Xu Zheng, Senior Partner of Beijing Jincheng Tongda Law Firm, presented their experiences at the enterprise and law firm levels on the comprehensive victory of Zhejiang Juhua Co., Ltd. in the US anti circumvention investigation against China. The relevant person in charge of the Trade Remedy Investigation Bureau of the Provincial Department of Commerce introduced the Zhejiang Province Trade Remedy Precision Service Platform and the “Aid” Foreign Economic and Trade Legal Aid Call Center in “Zhejiang”. Cui Haiyan, representative of the resident law firm and managing partner of Jindao Law Firm, made a statement. The relevant person in charge of Wenzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce introduced Wenzhou’s pioneering and effective foreign-related commercial legal service mechanism.
Next, the Provincial Department of Commerce will scientifically and accurately grasp the current situation, firmly shoulder the mission and responsibility of “three regions” and “important windows”, resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the central and provincial party committees and governments, highlight the response mechanism, focus on normalized response, highlight smooth dual circulation, and focus on systematic and precise response. With the support and leadership of the Ministry of Commerce, we will increase the intensity of trade relief work, deepen and comprehensively do a good job in responding to economic and trade frictions, and contribute to the “six stability and six guarantees” and high-quality development of trade in Zhejiang.