China has a welcome mat for Trump: it just rewrote the rules on U.S. sanctions
Author: Steve H. Hanke and Jeffrey Weng
Outlet: Fortune
Date: May 4, 2026
Hanke and co-author Jeffrey Weng examine China's Announcement No. 21, in which Beijing's Ministry of Commerce invoked, for the first time, its 2021 Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-Territorial Application of Foreign Legislation, a long-dormant blocking statute, to bring an actual case against U.S. sanctions and activate a private right of action. The authors argue this unprecedented move dusts off what had been a "paper tiger" law, timed just ahead of a Trump-Xi summit, signaling that Beijing now has real legal tools to counter U.S. extraterritorial sanctions and giving China added leverage even as it rolls out a conciliatory "welcome mat" for Trump.
Full Citation:
"China has a welcome mat for Trump: it just rewrote the rules on U.S. sanctions," Fortune, May 4, 2026. (with Jeffrey Weng)