A new vessel sharing agreement between Japanese carrier Ocean Network Express, South Korea-based Hyundai Merchant Marine and Taiwan-based Yang Ming Marine Transportation (see 2411070005) will take effect Feb. 9, the Federal Maritime Commission said Feb. 6 after completing its review. The commission said it carried out an “economic analysis of the competitive effects of the” arrangement, called the Premier Alliance Agreement, adding that all agreements “are subject to the strictest standards for ongoing monitoring by the Commission.”
U.S. export controls on computing chips and chipmaking equipment are more likely to slow China's advances in artificial intelligence than in military modernization, a researcher said during a Feb. 6 hearing of the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The European Commission is pushing for new import fees and customs controls on certain low-value e-commerce imports that it said are unsafe, counterfeit or don’t meet other EU product standards. The controls could target products from online marketplaces such as AliExpess, Amazon, Shein and Temu, the commission said, adding that those companies could be liable for the sale of unsafe products on their platforms.
Sahar Hafeez, a former senior adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security undersecretary’s office (see 2107270016 and 2107280051), has rejoined Pillsbury Winthrop as an international trade and national security lawyer, the firm announced this week. Hafeez was most recently a senior adviser to the assistant secretary for industry and analysis at the Commerce Department before leaving government last month.
The U.S. and the EU should launch a new “ambitious agenda” to address trade and technology challenges posed by China, including streamlining the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and building on sanctions and export controls, the Center for European Policy Analysis said this month.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said Jan. 28 that the U.S. should place stronger export controls on technologies critical to the infrastructure of an advanced new Chinese artificial intelligence model.
Years after the U.S. first imposed trade restrictions against Huawei, the government’s strategy to restrain the Chinese technology company remains unclear, technology policy experts said this week.
The Treasury Department recently published more guidance on its outbound investment prohibition and notification rules (see 2412160044), including new FAQs on how certain portions of the rules apply to in-house lawyers, the rule’s “knowledge standard,” the scope of transactions that are covered, and joint filings.
A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights was widely panned by the American semiconductor and technology industry this week, even as U.S. officials said the restrictions are necessary to keep American companies ahead of their Chinese competitors.
The Biden administration’s upcoming AI chip-related export controls likely will upset key U.S. allies, especially the EU, by reinforcing the notion that the U.S. relies too heavily on extraterritorial controls and is “hellbent” on maintaining American technology leadership, the Center for European Policy Analysis said this week.