Although adopting a 50% rule for the Entity List could allow U.S. export controls to capture more bad actors, it could also cause unintended business consequences and may make it more challenging for the Bureau of Industry and Security to add companies to the list, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s former export enforcement chief.
The Democratic leaders of two key House committees said this week they’re “deeply concerned” about the Bureau of Industry and Security potentially pivoting away from traditional export control dialogues with allies and asked BIS to respond to oversight questions before the end of next week.
Eight Senate Democrats, including Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged the Trump administration May 19 to reconsider its AI deals with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, saying the agreements lack guardrails to prevent the diversion of U.S. technology to China.
Beijing this week threatened to penalize any person or company that complies with new export control guidance from the Bureau of Industry and Security about advanced Huawei chips, saying the guidance constitutes “discriminatory restrictive measures against Chinese companies.”
U.S. companies that sell defense products or services to foreign countries or entities must report all offsets agreements greater than $5 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security by June 15, the agency said this week. Companies also must report information on offsets transactions completed “in performance of existing offsets commitments for which an offsets credit” of $250,000 or more “has been claimed from the foreign representative,” the notice said. The Commerce Department is asking for reports of offsets transactions that took place during calendar year 2024.
Members of a U.S. commission on China said they approved of the Trump administration’s AI chip agreement with the United Arab Emirates last week, but they also stressed that the deal should have stringent security guardrails in place to verify that any U.S. chips aren’t being sent on to Beijing.
The Bureau of Industry and Security quietly revised its announcement of new guidance on Huawei Ascend chips to remove language that said using those chips “anywhere in the world” is a violation of U.S. export controls.
China criticized new guidance from the Bureau of Industry and Security this week that said using Huawei Ascend chips likely violates export controls (see 2505130018), saying the announcement is another example of U.S. “unilateral bullying.”
The Senate Commerce Committee voted 17-11 May 14 to approve former Energy Department official Paul Dabbar to be deputy commerce secretary, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration. Asked in written questions whether he would ensure the Bureau of Industry and Security has the resources necessary to do its job, Dabbar said he would ensure the Commerce Department, including BIS, “completes its mission.” He also said he would work to "tighten export controls on critical and emerging technologies."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced a bill last week that would require export-controlled advanced computing chips to contain location verification mechanisms to prevent their diversion to “adversaries” such as China.