DuPont China is suspected of violating antitrust law and has been placed under investigation by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. What are the specifics?

DuPont was selected because it truly is a soft target. Its stock price plummeted 70% over 2018 and 2019, primarily due to poor performance in its automotive and electronics businesses. Although its business has recently rebounded somewhat amid the electric vehicle and semiconductor booms, its financial condition remains severely strained. Thus, the adage 'falling behind invites punishment' truly holds universally.

What is this U.S.-based DuPont—now under investigation in China—all about? Is this the opening salvo of an all-out campaign?

Regarding U.S. President Trump’s coercive tariff hikes, so far only China has announced countermeasures—imposing a 34% tariff on all U.S. goods. Why is China the only country daring enough to do this? Because China is the sole nation globally capable of full-industry-chain self-reliance. Moreover, given the sheer number of monopolistic multinational giants headquartered in the U.S., virtually no other country would dare impose a 34% tariff across the board on all American products. Even more significantly, China did not merely announce tariffs; it rolled out a comprehensive suite of countermeasures—including import restrictions, the Unreliable Entity List, export controls on strategic resources, investment restrictions, and antitrust investigations. Many observers noted that DuPont China Group has been placed under antitrust investigation for suspected violations of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law. Upon China’s announcement, DuPont’s stock plunged 23% cumulatively over two days. Why was DuPont singled out as a representative case in this round of Sino-U.S. trade博弈? The trigger likely dates back to October last year, when DuPont sued two emerging Chinese chemical enterprises, accusing them of infringing DuPont’s intellectual property rights—specifically, their independently developed flash-spinning ultra-high-speed filament and nonwoven fabric industrial production lines. These products, once entering the U.S. market, would inevitably disrupt DuPont’s monopoly. While the relevant patent indeed resides in the U.S., it expired in 1992—and yet the U.S. resorted to Section 337 investigations to stir up trouble. This is not the first time such tactics have been used. In the early 2000s, a Chinese enterprise developed Nuomei Paper—a material previously restricting China’s development—and although DuPont failed to acquire the company, it launched a full-scale campaign to crush it. Similarly, China’s domestically developed T1601 additive was also eliminated using this very playbook. China’s chemical industry has long suffered under DuPont’s dominance. And this latest move may even be considered relatively mild: historically, DuPont has gone so far as to literally blow up competitors’ factories in its ruthless pursuit of market monopoly—stopping at nothing to secure dominance.

DuPont de Nemours Stock Downgraded to "Neutral" by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

1 day ago

JPMorgan Chase downgraded DuPont de Nemours to "neutral" with a $145 price target, despite the company beating quarterly earnings with $1.88 EPS and $1.82 billion in revenue. Analyst consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" at $163.47.

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