The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by a week a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced July 22. The ports had planned to begin imposing the fee in November 2021 but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until July 29.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The U.S. should shift away from only using export controls as a technology competition strategy against China and instead turn to domestic investment, Ling Chen, a Wilson Center China fellow, said in a July report funded by the think tank. “Weaponizing” supply chains will only “galvanize” China, the report said, causing it to “accelerate” its technological development. “The effect of the tech war may be counterproductive for the United States,” the report said.
India has substantially increased imports of Russian crude oil in the last few months and could start buying even more, said Reid l’Anson, a commodity economist with Kpler, during a July 22 webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council. India is on pace this month to buy 1 million Russian barrels per day, a significant surge from pre-invasion levels, l’Anson said.
Although the U.S. should be concerned about university espionage and research theft, it shouldn’t place restrictions on fundamental research, said Arati Prabhakar, President Joe Biden’s nominee for director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaking during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing this week. She said the U.S. has some “real issues” involving research security, which “have to be wrestled with” but not in a way that stifles innovation and hurts American competitiveness.
The Senate is making progress on bipartisan legislation that would give the administration stronger authorities to investigate, prosecute and seize the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, including in cases of sanctions or export control evasion. The proposals received broad support this week from Senate Judiciary Committee members, who said DOJ’s powers should be expanded and bolstered to better punish Russian war crimes.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls posted its two new open general licenses on its website and issued a fact sheet to describe the new pilot program (see 2207190008). Open General License No. 1 and Open General License No. 2 will be valid for one year -- Aug. 1 through July 31, 2023 -- as DDTC tests the “viability and appropriateness of the open general license concept.”
The departments of Commerce and Defense are establishing a new forum to better study potential controls for emerging technologies, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said, speaking during a July 19 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. He said he has asked DOD to help him stand up a “critical technologies review board” to coordinate over a range of evolving technologies, including semiconductors, biotechnology and quantum computing. “This board will help BIS to understand the technologies DOD is investing in for military use,” he said, “and to help us impose appropriate controls for those technologies.” BIS recently announced it would stop categorizing technologies as either emerging or foundational before a control is imposed, which it hopes will help the interagency process move faster (see 2206270007).
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week published two open general licenses to authorize reexports and retransfers of certain defense items and services to Australia, Canada and the U.K. The two authorizations, which are the first open general licenses issued by DDTC, will be valid starting Aug. 1 through July 31, 2023, as part of a new pilot program.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should harmonize the Entity List with other lists across various agencies to better capture foreign companies that should be subject to strict trade restrictions, lawmakers told BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez this week. Others said BIS has failed to blacklist Chinese military companies that deserve placement on the Entity List, allowing the Chinese government to continue to buy sensitive American technologies.
CBP has completed work on its upcoming mandated electronic export manifest for ocean, air and rail (see 2205060015), and is inching closer to issuing a public rulemaking, said Thomas Overacker, CBP’s executive director of cargo and conveyance security, speaking July 18 during CBP’s Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit. He said the agency also is “finalizing internal work” on mandated EEM for truck. “So watch for that,” he said. “In the coming year, we'll have more to announce.”