Global News Of Note: Chinese Government Challenges Canadian Metals Penalties

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:

• According to Reuters, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has confirmed that the Chinese government has requested WTO dispute consultations regarding Canadian penalties and quotas on steel and aluminum goods. As Connecting the Dots has explained, the policies at issue include a surtax in the form of tariff-rate quotas on certain steel imports originating from Canada’s non-free trade agreement partners, including China. In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mark Carney affirmed the need for the penalties, arguing, “These measures are a direct response to China’s over capacity and non-market behavior, which are undermining Canada’s steel sector and threatening Canadian jobs.”
• Reuters also reported that China’s imports of unwrought aluminum and related products rose 38.2 percent from July 2024 to July 2025. The data includes primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminum. In the first seven months of 2025, China imported a total of 2.33 million tons of unwrought aluminum and products, a 1.5 percent increase from the same period in 2024.