A bill was introduced in the House that could lead to new export controls on genetic mapping technology and sanction entities in China and elsewhere involved in certain genetic mapping efforts. The bill would specifically direct the Commerce Department to deny licenses for those exporting these items to certain countries unless the exporter can submit documentation to the government "to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that, if the license is approved, the technology will not be used for human rights abuses or by an entity that has engaged in human rights abuses."
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, responding to a question from Express Association of America Executive Director Mike Mullen, said he was exactly right when he said that while there's a long list of problems with China, the government also has to keep in mind "how important China is to our economy, and maintaining that into the future."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's senior vice president for international policy said that when the trade ministers for the G-20 nations meet in India later this week, they should pledge not to hike tariffs, impose new export restraints or add digital trade barriers.
A World Trade Organization dispute panel rejected China's claim that its retaliatory tariffs in response to Section 232 tariffs were justified because the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs were a safeguard in disguise.
A former Mexican economy secretary, Ildefonso Guajardo, who oversaw the NAFTA renegotiation, said Mexico's current administration has not complied with the energy provisions in the trade agreement, and has "tried to disrupt trade in corn, using excuses of sanitary issues" and genetic modifications. He said in both cases, the trade disagreements "have become part of the full political negotiation" that includes migration and also includes fentanyl and security issues.
Citing a Financial Times report that Chinese artificial intelligence developers are evading controls on advanced semiconductors by using cloud services, members of the House introduced a bill to stop those practices, called Closing Loopholes for the Overseas Use and Development of Artificial Intelligence (CLOUD AI). The bill was introduced last month, and its text published this week.
After the administration reported on its strategy to disrupt narcotics trafficking linked to the Syrian regime, including its sanctions against Samer Kamal al-Assad and Khalid Qaddour, a key drug producer and facilitator, respectively, of captagon production in Syria, two members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill directing the administration to impose sanctions on more Syrian players in the production and sale of the amphetamine-like stimulant.
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena, on her first trip to Washington, put USMCA first in her list of priorities, saying that in the less than 14 months left in the administration she is part of, she wants "to be able to bring certainty" in the NAFTA replacement, and to engage across all three countries in various sectors. "It's very important to consolidate this very important economic framework, and to make sure even if we are leaving in 13 months that this can remain as a powerful ... mechanism of trade and investment and economic development and partnership," she said at the Atlantic Council Aug. 10.
Anabel Gonzalez, one of the World Trade Organization's deputy directors-general, said in a farewell column that although progress is being made on improving the WTO, "governments face some tough choices in the months and years to come to deal with pressing matters that, if left unchecked, could seriously erode the multilateral trading system and damage trade as an engine of growth and prosperity."
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., one of the shrinking number of members of Congress who advocate for engaging with China rather than punishing it, recently published a white paper of his views on how to manage competition with China, how to use both offensive and defensive measures to compete with China, how to improve U.S. governance and competitiveness, and how to identify areas of cooperation.