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🇨🇳 China Invokes Blocking Statute for First Time China’s Ministry of Commerce has for the first time activated its 2021 Blocking Rules, ordering all Chinese firms and individuals not to comply with U.S. sanctions targeting five independent Chinese oil refineries accused of purchasing Iranian crude. Beijing called the U.S. measures, imposed under two executive orders, an “unjustified” and “improper” use of extraterritorial law. The move puts multinational companies operating in both markets in direct legal conflict: compliance with U.S. sanctions now risks violating Chinese law, and vice versa. Global banks and firms with dollar exposure face secondary sanctions risk if they continue dealing with the affected refineries. Analysts describe the order as a significant step toward competing legal frameworks for global trade, accelerating the path to potential economic “decoupling” between the two powers.
Henry Gao
MOFCOM just invoked the blocking statute for the first time, ordering all firms not to recognise, enforce, or comply with US sanctions imposed under EO 13902 & 13846 targeting 5 Chinese teapot refineries for their involvement in Iranian oil transactions. The decoupling is coming
