WASHINGTON—The House voted on Feb. 4 to pass the America COMPETES Act, a bill that aims to increase U.S. competitiveness with China and to address the country’s shortage of semiconductors by strengthening the country’s supply chain.

In January, the U.S. and China agreed to a trade deal that cut some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Chinese pledges to purchase more American farm, energy and manufactured goods and address U.S. complaints about intellectual property practices.

BEIJING--China will expand its smart manufacturing strategy by adding about 100 new pilot demonstration projects in 2018, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

PALO ALTO, CA--Electric car maker Tesla Inc. reaffirmed this week that it is talking with the Shanghai municipal government to set up a factory in the region and expects to agree on a plan by the end of the year. However, the company declined to comment on a report that a deal has been reached.

DONGGUAN, CHINA—The Changying Precision Technology Co., which focuses on producing mobile phones and automated production lines, used to employ around 650 employees. Today, it has about 60 employees as a result of replacing nearly 90 percent of its human workforce with machines.

BEIJING—China’s first domestic manufacturer of jet engines, Aero Engine Corp. of China, has officially opened for business. The multibillion dollar conglomerate will employ some 100,000 people and incorporate subsidiaries of various state-owned firms, including the Aviation Industrial Corp. of China.

ZHENGZHOU, China—Contract manufacturer Foxconn said on Monday that two workers at its assembly facilities here died last week, even as the company made efforts to improve labor conditions that came under scrutiny after a spate of suicides in recent years.

NEW YORK—The United States sits just behind China in terms of manufacturing competitiveness in 2016, and is expected to overtake the country by 2020, according to a study by consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

WASHINGTON—Producers in China and six other countries sold cold-rolled steel at unfairly low prices in the U.S. market and will be taxed as much as 266 percent on the price.

DETROIT—General Motors will sell a vehicle made in China in the United States next year, becoming the first major U.S. automaker to do so. The move was quickly denounced by the UAW, which branded it “a slap in the face” and called for an immediate rethink.