The Bureau of Industry and Security added 43 entities to the Entity List this week, including companies conducting various activities that either support China’s military or allow the government to “carry out human rights abuses.” Other entities were added for supporting Pakistan’s ballistic missile program or other weapons capabilities.
Just after the administration asked the International Trade Commission to examine the emissions intensity of the steel and aluminum sectors, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate to tell the Energy Department to conduct a comprehensive study of the emissions from the production of aluminum, cement, iron and steel, plastic, and products made from all those materials, fertilizer, glass, lithium-ion batteries, paper and pulp, solar panels and cells, wind turbines, crude oil, refined oil products, natural gas, hydrogen, refined critical minerals and uranium.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission to produce a report on the greenhouse gas emissions in the domestic steel and aluminum sectors, "which will help to inform discussions with the European Union regarding the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum."
SSA Terminals will soon launch an "innovative approach" to "track and analyze the potential of providing extended weekend hours for shippers," Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel said June 1. The program, which will be rolled out at SSA's terminals in Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma next month, will allow shippers to schedule a time during the week to pick up cargo on a Saturday or Sunday.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has seen a recent spike in completed end-use checks in China after years of dormancy, which has allowed the agency to verify controlled items went to their intended destination, said Matthew Axelrod, top export enforcement official at BIS. Axelrod, speaking during a Senate Banking Committee hearing this week, said the agency has completed more than 90 checks in the last seven months, a stark turnaround from a government in China that hadn’t “scheduled a single end-use check for us in over two years.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security doesn't have a draft rule in place to increase export licensing requirements for Huawei despite rumors this year that new restrictions for the Chinese technology company were imminent, said Thea Kendler, BIS assistant secretary for export administration. Kendler also said the agency has seen a sharp decline in China-related license applications, is spending more time reviewing those applications and is prioritizing reviews of artificial intelligence items, quantum computing technology and biotechnology for new export controls.
World Bank borrower countries awarded 28 contracts to entities that may have been on U.S. sanctions or export control lists from 2017 to 2021, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released last week. The bank doesn't disqualify businesses on U.S. sanctions or watch lists, and all entities from all countries can bid for borrower contracts, the report said, except for certain entities debarred by the World Bank or sanctioned by the U.N.
The EU is proposing a “new tool” to combat sanctions circumvention by penalizing third countries that ship EU goods to Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week. The measure, part of the EU’s most recent proposed sanctions package against Russia, could allow member states to impose export controls on those third countries.
A former Pentagon official expected to testify before Congress May 11 said U.S. officials for years have “refused” to fix failures in its export control system that allow China to acquire sensitive technologies. Stephen Coonen, who spent nearly 14 years in the Defense Technology Security Administration, including as its senior foreign affairs adviser for China, said he resigned from the agency in 2021 to protest the Bureau of Industry and Security’s “willful blindness” surrounding its export policies.
Representatives from Chile and South Korea introduced the latest version of a draft agreement on investment facilitation for development during a May 4 plenary meeting after two days of consultations at the World Trade Organization. The WTO said the goal is to finish negotiations by mid-year.