Nearly a quarter of the 123 new entries the Bureau of Industry and Security will add to its Entity List this week are Chinese suppliers that the agency named in private red-flag letters to U.S. companies earlier this year.
China renewed its antidumping duties on imports of halogenated butyl rubber from the U.S., the EU, the U.K. and Singapore, the country’s commerce ministry announced Aug. 20, according to an unofficial translation. The duties, originally imposed in 2018, range from 23.1% to 75.5%. The rubber is mainly used in tubeless tires, heat-resistant inner tubes, medicinal bottle stoppers, shockproof pads, adhesives and sealing materials, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said.
The Treasury Department should make sure its investment screening regulations don’t unfairly discriminate against foreigners and should do more to curb a rise in “xenophobic” U.S. state and federal land laws, nonprofits told the agency and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. They criticized several bills that could place new investment restrictions on people from “countries of concern,” including China and Iran, and said they’re concerned CFIUS may not have the resources to manage its expanding jurisdiction.
Data recently published by S&P Global shows which countries are supplying Russia with computer numerically controlled machine tools and components, which the U.S. and its allies have identified as a “common high priority” good that Russia is seeking to buy to support its military in violation of Western export controls and sanctions.
A new rule issued by the State Department last week will finalize an exemption for defense trade between the U.S., Australia and the U.K., potentially removing export control barriers for a range of items that had previously faced strict license requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Australia and the U.K. said the exemption and other AUKUS changes are expected to lift restrictions on billions of dollars worth of exports each year and eliminate hundreds of export licenses once the “license free” trade begins next month.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week fined a Pennsylvania electronics business and its Hong Kong affiliate $5.8 million after the company voluntarily disclosed and admitted to illegally shipping controlled technology to China, including to military research institutes on the Entity List. The company, TE Connectivity Corporation, had “knowledge or reason to know” that the shipments violated U.S. export controls, BIS said, adding that its employees in China hid the true end-users and bypassed the company’s denied-party screening process.
The State Department this week published a final version of a rule to expand its regulatory definition of activities that don’t need a license because they don’t qualify as exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule, effective Sept. 16, is largely consistent with the proposed version, though the agency made changes to narrow its scope and make sure certain temporary imports will still require a license.
A bipartisan group of 14 senators urged USDA this week to modernize its process for collecting information on foreign investment in U.S. farmland.
A new set of export controls on U.S. persons activities and other transactions could require “dramatic expansions” to some companies’ internal compliance programs, Akin Gump said this month, including additional compliance training, end-user certifications and greater due diligence of suppliers and customers.
Russian companies have bought millions of dollars worth of drone parts from China-based drone accessories supplier Tarot-RC, risk advisory firm Kharon said Aug. 6. Kharon said the parts were made by Chinese company Wenzhou Feiyue Aviation Technology Co. and have been shipped into Russia in “significant quantities” since the start of 2023 despite claims by Tarot-RC “that it does not engage in such activity.” Trade records and other public data “contradict that assertion, pointing to a consistent influx of Tarot-RC components into Russia, both through direct shipments from Wenzhou Feiyue Aviation Technology Co. and through intermediaries that move products from China and Hong Kong into Russia,” Kharon said.