Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
China-based Borqs Technologies said it completed its divestment of Hawaii-based energy storage system company Holu Hou Energy (HHE) about two years after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ordered it to do so.
China has sanctioned Mike Gallagher, former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin and former chair of the House Select Committee on China, the country’s Foreign Ministry announced May 21, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said Gallagher has “frequently used words and deeds that interfere in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and infringe on China's interests.” China said the sanctions will freeze Gallagher’s assets in the country, ban Chinese companies from doing business with Gallagher, and block him from entering the country.
The U.S. hasn’t done enough to coordinate its China-related trade restrictions with U.S. allies, especially its semiconductor export controls, Craig Allen, head of the U.S.-China Business Council, told Biden administration officials this week.
China this week launched an antidumping duty probe on imports of polyoxymethylene copolymers, an industrial plastic, from the U.S., the EU, Japan and Taiwan, the country’s Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. China said the plastic has "high mechanical strength” and can “partially replace metal materials such as copper, zinc, tin, and lead,” including in auto parts and industrial machinery. The ministry is accepting public comments on the scope of the probe within 20 days and is expecting to complete the investigation within one year, although it can extend that timeline by six months.
China added three U.S. defense companies, including a business unit of Boeing, to its Unreliable Entity List for arms sales to Taiwan, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced May 20. The agency said it added Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security unit, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and General Dynamics Land Systems to the list, prohibiting them from participating in “import and export activities related to China” and subjecting them to other restrictions, according to an unofficial translation.
U.S. export controls may not be the best way to counter China’s legacy semiconductor industry, especially because the EU and other allies aren’t likely to adopt similar restrictions, researchers said this month. The researchers said they expect the U.S. to turn more frequently to entity-based controls -- including through the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List -- and other national security tools to address risks relating to more mature-node chips.
The farm bill that the House Agriculture Committee plans to mark up May 23 contains several foreign investment-related provisions, including a requirement that the Agriculture Department enter into a formal agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to ensure the two agencies share information on foreign transactions in a timely manner.
The World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's May 24 meeting includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports also are expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products; from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products; and from China on AD measures on stainless steel products from Japan.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 16 approved several bills that could impose sanctions on China, Russia and the Houthis and tighten export controls on China.