Global News Of Note: China Lowers Growth Target And UK Keeps Metals Penalties In Place

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• The United Kingdom’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) recently published its initial findings for reviews into trade remedy measures on imports of hot rolled flat and coil steel from China, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Iran. The TRA is reviewing three measures: Anti-dumping measures on imports from China; countervailing measures on imports from China; and anti-dumping measures on imports from Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, and Iran. The TRA proposed to extend the measures on imports from China, Russia, Brazil, and Iran but remove them for Ukraine since dumping of products from Ukraine is unlikely to recur due to a reduction in Ukraine’s production capacity and limits on the ability to export caused by the war with Russia. The TRA also took into account Ukraine’s requirement to rebuild steel production facilities and domestic demand for steel to rebuild the country’s infrastructure. Read the full report here.
• Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that his government has set an economic growth target of five percent this year. It is Beijing’s lowest growth target in more than a quarter-century. Last year’s target was 5.5 percent, and the world’s second biggest economy fell far short. China is struggling to bounce back from the effects of three years of strict restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal has more here.