The Bureau of Industry and Security hasn't yet lifted all the licensing holds that began for export applications in early February, a Commerce Department official said this week, although the agency is hoping to make progress on the holds soon.
The Trump administration plans to substantially increase fines against companies that violate export controls, including against China, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week. He also said the U.S. is planning to incorporate export control commitments into free trade deal negotiations as a way to incentivize trading partners to better restrict their sensitive technologies.
A State Department notice declaring that all agency efforts to control international trade now constitute a "foreign affairs function" of the U.S. under the Administrative Procedure Act will ultimately be subject to the discretion of the courts, trade lawyers told us.
The Senate voted 54-45 late March 13 to confirm Washington trade lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to be undersecretary of commerce for industry and security. The vote came a week after the Senate Banking Committee approved Kessler’s nomination along party lines (see 2503060043). Kessler has said he would conduct a host of reviews at the Bureau of Industry and Security, including whether the agency needs more statutory authorities to do its job (see 2503060043).
The Bureau of Industry and Security could face significant challenges imposing and enforcing export controls against China if the Trump administration continues to slash government workers and resources, particularly in the national security sphere, a technology policy researcher said in a new report. The report said the U.S. needs to continue investing in efforts to close export control loopholes that allow China to acquire advanced artificial intelligence chips, but it also said that even “extremely aggressive” controls are unlikely to give the U.S. a large lead in the AI race.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., asked the Bureau of Industry and Security to brief his panel on how it's restricting China’s access to U.S. university supercomputers.
The U.S. needs stronger restrictions on the types of advanced technology research that can be shared with academic institutions and other entities from China, lawmakers and witnesses said during a congressional hearing last week, including by possibly extending export controls to cover fundamental research. Others said the U.S. should be careful about cutting off too much collaboration with China, which would disregard the strides universities have recently made to better protect sensitive research.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines March 6 to approve Washington trade lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to be undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration.
Nearly 90 Republican lawmakers urged the Commerce Department March 5 to rescind a Biden administration interim final rule (IFR) restricting firearms exports, saying the controls hurt American businesses.
China and Canada announced new retaliatory trade restrictions against the U.S. -- and Mexico announced plans to soon release its own set of countermeasures -- after President Donald Trump's administration on March 4 increased tariffs on goods from all three countries. Industry associations said the counter-duties could damage a range of American export industries, including shippers of agricultural products, spirits and other commercial goods.