On Thursday, China said that the Biden administration’s intention to restrict the amount of Chinese content in batteries eligible for significant tax incentives for electric vehicles beginning next year violates international trade rules and will cause disruptions in global supply chains.

According to the proposals, investors in the supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States will be ineligible for tax credits if they utilize more than a trace quantity of crucial materials from China or other nations that are considered to be a “Foreign Entity of Concern” (FEOC).

According to He Yadong, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce, “targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from the scope of a subsidy is a typical example of a policy that is not market-oriented.”

“Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO’s basic principles,” said the representative.

As a result of China’s preeminent position in the global battery supply chain, policymakers in the United States and Europe have taken action in response to concerns that low-cost electric vehicles manufactured in China will flood their respective markets.

The European Commission is currently conducting investigations to determine whether Chinese businesses receive improper state subsidies.

Two laws have already been approved in Washington that expressly exclude investors from being able to profit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and essential minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle manufactured, should they use FEOCs in their supply chains. These laws make it clear that investors are not eligible to get these benefits.

Specifically, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are included in this category. The regulations will go into force in 2024 for batteries that have been built and in 2025 for materials that are considered important.

The administration of Vice President Joe Biden of the United States of America is also recommending strict guidelines, one of which is a threshold of 25% ownership, to determine whether a corporation is under the control of an FEOC.

“By establishing ‘glass barriers’, the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly,” he stated, pointing out that the proposals would “seriously disrupt international trade and investment” .

It is estimated that China is responsible for roughly two-thirds of the world’s lithium processing capacity and seventy-five percent of the world’s cobalt capacity. Both of these elements are utilized in the production of batteries.

Analysts, on the other hand, have questioned whether the hyperbole that the United States and the European Union are using on the possible hazards is warranted by China’s role in global battery supply chains.

“There is a great deal of exaggeration surrounding this. Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank, stated that he is uncertain whether the actions that the European Union or the United States are contemplating are proportionate to the magnitude of the risk.

It is more accurate to argue that the strategies being implemented in Europe and the United States are, in fact, industrial strategies. Simply put, they are concerned with having industries that are competitive and able to endure.

During his trip to Israel, Elon Musk, who had been criticized for an anti-Jewish remark on his social networking platform X, was presented with a symbolic dog tag by the father of an Israeli who had been held captive by Hamas in Gaza. Musk committed the dog tag until all of the pages were released.

“Our hearts are hostage in Gaza,” read the metal tag that Musk got from Malki Shem-Tov, the father of Omer Shem-Tov, who is now being held as a hostage. The office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog released the footage of Musk’s visit on Monday.

The bracelet was wrapped around Musk’s neck. In the latter hours of Monday, he posted a message on X that said, “I will wear it every day until your loved ones are released.”

The dog tags, which are widely distributed across Israel, are a reminder of the cross-border death spree that Hamas carried out on October 7, during which 240 individuals were hauled back to Gaza.

On November 15, Musk expressed his agreement with a post that made a false allegation that Jewish people were inciting hatred against white people. He stated that the poster who mentioned the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory was using “the actual truth” in their statement.

Immediately after the post, significant corporations in the United States, such as Walt Disney (DIS.N), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O), and Comcast (CMCSA.O), the parent company of NBCUniversal, decided to cease their ads on X, which was once known as Twitter.

An “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” that “runs against our core values as Americans” was what the White House of the United States of America referred to as Musk’s actions.

Musk has indicated that he is opposed to antisemitism and anything that “promotes hate and conflict.” He has also stated that X would not promote hate speech.

According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden will utilize a policy from the Cold War era to encourage more investment in the domestic manufacture of medications and medical supplies that the President has considered critical for the nation’s defense.

This declaration is part of several that the Biden administration will release Monday to support industry supply chains and reverse many years of historically high inflation.

The Defense Production Act, passed during the Cold War, gave the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to use those powers to enable spending on “essential medicines,” according to a White House statement.

In addition, one can invest in “medical countermeasures,” which are supplies that can diagnose, prevent, or treat disorders connected to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear threats.

Biden, a Democrat seeking re-election in 2024, is keen to demonstrate to the people of the United States that he is combating inflation and addressing broader issues over the condition of the economy in the United States. On Monday, he will preside over the inaugural gathering of a newly established White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience.

On a conference call with reporters, Lael Brainard, the chairman of Vice President Biden’s National Economic Council, stated that while the stress on supply chains had decreased from the record highs reached during the COVID-19 epidemic, more work was still needed.