BUSINESS/CHINA/SUPREME COURT/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and against China on Thursday [6-14-18] on a disputed aspect of their fraught trade relationship, throwing out a lower court ruling that had allowed two Chinese vitamin C makers to escape $148 million in damages for violating American antitrust law. In a case that brought the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies before the top U.S. court, the justices ruled 9-0 that the lower court gave too much deference to Chinese government filings explaining China’s regulatory policy. The justices sent the case back for reconsideration by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2016 threw out the damages won by two American companies that buy vitamin C. Writing for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that while U.S. courts should give ‘respectful consideration’ to a foreign government’s interpretation of its own law, they are not ‘bound to accord conclusive effect to the foreign government’s statements.’ Lawyers for the U.S. and Chinese governments faced off in April before the justices. The Supreme Court took the unusual step of letting China present arguments even though it is not an official party in the case, a privilege typically reserved for the U.S. Justice Department.”
-Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, “Trump gets win at U.S. Supreme Court in China antitrust case,” Reuters, June 14, 2018 7:12 am