National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America President J.D. Gonzalez said representatives from the rail industry and ports, and Homeland Security officials, including Undersecretary Robert Silvers, had a good discussion on how to optimize supply chain flows, but he hopes the group will meet quarterly and delve "a little bit deeper into some of the processes" needed to make the advisory group effective.
Exports to China
Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., have introduced legislation to increase the frequency and quality of information that Congress receives about U.S. investment in China.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working more closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control on enforcement issues, which could allow the two agencies to better align the BIS Entity List and OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 250 people and companies supplying Russia’s military in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, targeting procurement networks in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The Treasury and State departments said many of the newly sanctioned companies supplied Russia with goods listed on the Commerce Department’s list of common high-priority items, including electronic components, while others sold Russia advanced weapons and military technology.
The Biden administration’s recent decision to remove China’s Institute of Forensic Science (IFS) from the Entity List has led the Chinese government to become more helpful, at least initially, in stemming the flow of illegal fentanyl drugs to the U.S., Bureau of Industry and Security officials said.
Congress should require the Biden administration to strengthen export controls against China and give it new tools to restrict a broader range of inbound and outbound investments, the House Select Committee on China said in a Dec. 12 report.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is urging Congress to revisit legislation that would require U.S. firms to report outbound investments that could threaten American national security.
U.S. export controls will slow China’s innovation efforts, but they'll never “stop” the country from advancing technologically, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
A conference report on the 2024 defense spending bill released this week by House and Senate negotiators said the legislation won’t include a polarizing measure that could have led to new guardrails around U.S. outbound investments into China. The leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees ultimately decided to leave out the provision in the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act despite the fact that it passed as part of Senate’s version of the NDAA in July (see 2307280052).