Ahead of a meeting with Chinese officials, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan publicly warned China that it will face severe penalties if it helps Russia evade Western sanctions. The Biden administration is “watching closely” to see whether Beijing provides Moscow with “material support or economic support,” Sullivan told CNN March 13, which could give Russia an economic lifeline as it faces crippling financial restrictions from Europe, the U.S. and many of its trading partners.

Even before new sanctions and export controls targeting Russia take full effect, many companies are deciding that compliance and due diligence costs are not worth the potential profits of continued business dealings in Russia and Belarus, former U.S. export control and sanctions officials said, speaking at a Washington International Trade Association panel on March 10.

Rina Pal-Goetzen, a former Commerce Department official, joined the Semiconductor Industry Association as director of global policy, SIA announced March 7. Pal-Goetzen will work with policymakers in the U.S. and abroad, as well as industry, to “advance the association’s international trade policy agenda,” SIA said. Pal-Goetzen previously worked on trade policy at Commerce and served as general counsel for 3D printed microTEC, a California-based 3D printing company.

The Commerce Department could impose strict export controls, including through the Entity List, on Chinese companies that violate U.S. export restrictions against Russia, agency officials said this week.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's commissioner for competition, connected overreliance on China to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a speech in Paris on March 7. Vestager didn't mention China by name, but spoke of the need to have more European production of semiconductors, and said if Europe then partners "with like-minded democracies we can stabilize our supply chain. Because, crisis or not, Europe cannot do it alone."

The U.S. is imposing additional sanctions and new export controls following Russia's "further invasion of Ukraine," as promised by President Biden in his Feb. 22 speech (see 2202220003). The sanctions cover financial restrictions on Russian state-owned enterprises, banks, and individuals, while the export controls set restrictions on a variety of high-tech products. The new measures are part of an "unprecedented level of multilateral cooperation" according to the White House.

More sectoral sanctions targeting vulnerable elements of the Russian economy that rely on imports, such as semiconductors and other high-tech products, appear likely, said trade lawyers on a Feb. 23 panel hosted by law firm Thompson Hine. Following President Joe Biden's executive order and statements imposing sanctions on Russia (see 2202220003), they agreed, "the [U.S.] government is holding more in its back pocket" following the first tranche of sanctions announced on Feb. 21 and 22.

The Commerce and Treasury Departments announced a raft of new export controls and sanctions measures against Russia in press releases issued Feb. 24 following White House remarks by President Joe Biden. The measures include export control license requirements for a broad swath of the Commerce Control List, and the expansion of sanctions, including to entities in Belarus. The Bureau of Industry and Security also released a final rule on the export control changes, which take effect Feb. 24.

Although the U.S should take steps to punish Chinese cyber hackers through sanctions and export controls, it shouldn't expect those tools to slow China’s cyber hacking capabilities, experts told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. They said the U.S. should use sanctions in conjunction with other defensive tools to make it harder for China to carry out hacking.

Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel says that audits have already led to investigations at the FMC, but that the agency is underpowered, with about 115 employees and just six investigators. He said there have been billions of dollars worth of detention and demurrage charges, and that the FMC will be issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to create further guidance about proper detention and demurrage charges.