The Bureau of Industry and Security is ending its work in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council as part of a broader effort to pull back from traditional export control dialogues with allies, Jeffrey Kessler, the head of BIS, said in a closed-door meeting with agency officials last week. Kessler also said the agency plans to significantly increase export enforcement against China, warned about possible staffing cuts, urged officials to tamp down on conversations with industry, and said it’s unclear whether existing export controls against Russia will be maintained.

Six Senate Banking Committee Democrats, including ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the Trump administration March 26 to explain how it plans to implement the $20 million funding cut it recently imposed on the Bureau of Industry and Security, including whether it intends to shrink the agency’s workforce.

Technology companies and industry groups mostly supported a January State Department rule that will add items to the U.S. Munitions List and remove other items that no longer warrant control (see 2501160027), although they said new restrictions around autonomous underwater vehicles, radar-related technology and more could cause unintended consequences.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is poised to receive $171 million in funding in FY 2025, down 10.5% from FY 2024, as part of the Trump administration’s “illegal” cuts to national security programs, Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said March 25.

American allies, including the EU, should introduce their own versions of the U.S. foreign direct product rule and the October 2022 U.S. persons controls that restricted additional sensitive semiconductor exports (see 2212210059), the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a new report.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The State and Treasury departments should form a task force to “robustly investigate and sanction” illicit gold trafficking networks, a watchdog group representative told a House panel March 25.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 82 entities, mostly in mainland China, to the Entity List, targeting technology companies, chip firms, electronics businesses and others for their ties to Chinese military end-users. The additions, the first since President Donald Trump took office in January, also target entities in Taiwan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Iran for a range of reasons that BIS said are “contrary to the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S.

Companies moving export-controlled goods should generally require customers to fill out end-user and end-use statements for all transactions, even if the shipments are for less sensitive EAR99 items, Commerce Department officials said.

The U.K. opened a record number of sanctions-related investigations during the 2023-24 fiscal year and is expecting to soon issue multiple Russia-related penalties, the country’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in its annual report published March 21.