Ep 79 - Beijing stops playing coy

About this episode

On August 5th, China dropped a new batch of retaliatory economic measures against various US entities. • And this time, officials did something they rarely do – naming exactly which US actions they were responding to and why. On this episode of the Trivium China Podcast, Andrew Polk sits down with Cory Combs (Head of Supply Chain and Critical Minerals Research) to unpack: • What exactly landed in MofCom’s four-part policy package – from countersanctions on US biotech and compliance firms to China’s first ever foreign-trade national security investigation • Why this round of retaliation was aimed squarely at the FCC and DHS, and how it traces back to actions on robotics, drones, and forced-labor sanctions • Whether Beijing’s unusually direct language about the Busan detente is a warning shot or a sign the deal is really at risk • Why neither side seems ready to blow up the agreement just yet, even as both keep testing its edges