The Department of Commerce published its spring 2019 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agenda continues to mention an upcoming a long-awaited proposed rulemaking involving parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction, saying the proposal will be published in May 2019. Sharron Cook, a senior policy export analyst for BIS, said in April the rule change will help solve some of the bigger frustrations with the current regulations faced by export forwarders (see 1904170064). BIS is aiming to issue the proposal in May, it said.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is adding five new national security-related technologies to the Export Administration Regulations’ Commerce Control List, according to a notice in the Federal Register. The additions stem from changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement’s List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies agreed to during the 2018 Plenary meeting, the notice said. The changes add “recently developed or developing technologies” that are “essential” to U.S. national security: “discrete microwave transistors,” “continuity of operation software,” “post-quantum cryptography,” “underwater transducers designed to operate as hydrophones” and “air-launch platforms.” The notice is scheduled for publication and the changes take effect on May 23.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill, the China Technology Transfer Control Act of 2019, on May 14 that would increase controls on “national interest technology” exports to China and allow the U.S. to sanction people or entities that violate the controls. In a press release, Hawley’s office said the bill “places all ‘core technologies’ from China’s ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy on the Department of Commerce’s Export Control List.” The core technologies include 15 products, the release said, such as “artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, advanced construction equipment and lithium battery manufacturing.” “For too long, China has exploited American innovation to undermine our values and threaten our security,” Hawley said in a statement. “This legislation is an important step toward keeping American technology out of the hands of the Chinese government and its military.”

China plans to hit a wide range of goods from the U.S. with 20 percent tariffs in response to the Trump administration's increase in tariffs on Chinese goods (see 1905130002) Among the major items by value targeted by the Chinese on its 20 percent tariff list are machines and mechanical appliances in 8479.89.99; parts of diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices in 8541.90.00; other optical instruments in 9031.49.90; and North American hardwood in 4403.99.60. The tariffs will take effect June 1.

The U.S. trade war with China and the stalled revision of NAFTA have severely limited their export markets, filling their warehouses with unmovable products and slashing their revenues, farmers said during a House hearing on the state of the farm economy. The farmers called for a quick resolution of trade disputes with China and ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and suggested another market facilitation program similar to the relief package the Trump administration authorized in 2018 to aid farmers suffering from ongoing sparring over tariffs.

The U.S. trade war with China resulted in a 7 percent drop in goods exports -- $9 billion worth -- from 2017 to 2018, according to a new report from the U.S.-China Business Council. Even with the drop, the U.S. exported more to China in 2018 than it did in 2016. The report blamed China's retaliatory tariffs on about 85 percent of U.S. exports for the decline.

Canada and Colombia were removed from the priority watch list for intellectual property violations, and Tajikistan moved off the watch list, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual review of countries' policies on patents, trade secrets, counterfeits and piracy. Saudi Arabia was moved up to the priority watch list because of deteriorating conditions there, including "rampant satellite and online piracy," a USTR official said April 25.

Applied Materials ordered staff to suddenly stop doing business with customer Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics, a day after the Chinese LED chip maker appeared on a U.S. government “unverified list” of foreign entities (see 1904100017), according to a Nikkei Asian Review report. California-based Applied supplies semiconductor production equipment and large-area deposition systems for LCD and OLED display manufacturing. Xiamen Sanan describes itself as China’s “largest LED epitaxial wafer and chip manufacturer, endeavoring to become top 1 in the global LED industry.” Applied didn't comment. Efforts to reach Xiamen Sanan, whose shares are listed on the Shanghai stock exchange, were unsuccessful.

The European Union filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization on April 2 over India’s “excess” duty rates for goods in the information and communications technology sector. The EU said India is levying tariffs on a range of products that should have no tariffs, including semiconductors, electrical transformers, telephone sets, microphones, circuits, wire and measuring instruments. The rates on those products “clearly exceed the bound rate” of 0 percent set in India’s Schedule of Concessions and Commitments implemented after the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the EU said. The tariff rates are “inconsistent with India's obligations” in the WTO, the EU said in its request for consultations.

A task force of sanctions policy experts published a list of trends that could have an impact on the future of U.S. sanctions, providing evidence of a U.S. shift toward unilateral foreign policy decisions and warning of unintended consequences from sanctions that are increasingly complex, according to a report commissioned by the Center for a New American Security.