Former U.S. trade representative Michael Froman, at an event hosted by the centrist think tank Brookings Institution, said deciding how to apply export controls is "really difficult," and quite technical, as technologies evolve.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has started restricting the public sessions of its technical advisory committee meetings, a move that has jeopardized a crucial outlet for industry feedback about new regulations, current and former administration officials and industry representatives said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week added 32 entities to the Entity List, most of them based in China, for either circumventing export controls on China, supplying controlled items to Russia, evading BIS end-use checks, supporting China’s military modernization, or other activities that BIS said breached U.S. export rules.
The EU this week updated its dual-use export control list to align it with decisions taken by the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and Nuclear Supplier Group in 2024. The update "also includes commitments that Member States have accepted, as members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, to control additional items uniformly," the European Commission said.
The Semiconductor Industry Association urged Congress Sept. 5 to reject proposed legislation that it says would impose an “unprecedented expansion” of export controls on advanced AI computing chips.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., proposed an amendment Sept. 4 that would add several export control and sanctions provisions to the pending FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, including a requirement that U.S. manufacturers of advanced AI chips make their products available to American firms before selling them to China and other “countries of concern.”
The U.S.-Japan trade framework released by the White House last week includes commitments to increase cooperation on export controls and investment restrictions, according to a fact sheet.
H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser during the first Trump administration, said he disagrees with the government's plan to approve exports of Nvidia's advanced H20 chips to China (see 2508220003) and hopes the administration soon develops a more coherent economic security strategy.
The Commerce Department’s spring 2025 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security features more than 20 new rulemakings that could introduce new or update existing export controls, including restrictions over advanced AI chips, emerging technologies, Russia-related controls and other revisions to the Export Administration Regulations.
The U.S. charged Armenian national Kamo Kirakosyan this week with violating export controls after DOJ said he participated in a conspiracy to illegally export semiconductor manufacturing items from the U.S. to Russia through Armenia.