The U.S. needs to better enforce its existing export controls on advanced AI chips and chip equipment while bolstering its ability to screen Chinese investments that may be looking to evade those restrictions, several witnesses told Congress this week. But another witness said the current U.S. chip controls have so far failed and called on the government to rework its export control strategy.
David Sacks, the president's AI policy adviser, said the Biden-era AI diffusion export control rule was an “overreach” of U.S. export control authority and alienated American allies. The Bureau of Industry and Security’s plan to rescind the rule (see 2505070039 and 2505080026) was an “excellent decision,” he said last week.
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., reintroduced a bill May 5 designed to strengthen sanctions against several sources of funding for Myanmar’s military.
The House voted 406-1 late May 7 to pass a bill that would sanction those who fund, sponsor or otherwise facilitate forced organ harvesting or the trafficking of people to remove their organs.
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to rescind and replace the Biden administration’s AI diffusion rule (see 2505070039), while House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., offered a more guarded response.
The U.S. this week sanctioned a Chinese refinery and three port terminal operators for their role in buying Iranian oil. It also sanctioned multiple companies, vessels and ship captains responsible for moving those oil shipments as part of Iran’s shadow fleet.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to publish a notice that will officially rescind the AI diffusion export control rule released by the Biden administration in January, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. BIS sent the notice for interagency review on May 7 (see 2505070039).
The U.K. this week fined a fuel transportation company about $6,600, or 5,000 pounds, for failing to respond to a request for information from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. OFSI said U.K.-registered Svarog Shipping & Trading Company Limited, which does business in the maritime oil shipment sector in Cyprus, didn’t respond in time to OFSI questions last year despite receiving “multiple reminders” about the deadline.
The EU should take lessons learned from the “effectively dormant” U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (see 2503280039) and translate those into a new strategy for coordinating export controls and other trade issues with allies, the Paris-based Institut Montaigne think tank said in a report released this month.
China and Belarus held the ninth meeting of their economic and trade working group in Beijing this week, where the two sides applauded their deepening trade ties and vowed to continue expanding opportunities for Chinese companies in Belarus.