Two Chinese scholars specializing in international trade said they found U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's Oct. 4 speech (see 2110040008) encouraging, even though she criticized Chinese adherence to market principles and the effect that has on companies around the world.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Commerce Department this week announced the official launch of its early alert system to better manage semiconductor supply chain disruptions (see 2109240029). The Microelectronics Early Alert System, which will be administered by the International Trade Administration, will pull from information voluntarily submitted by companies about ongoing supply chain issues, including COVID-19-related plant closures, which will help the government coordinate resources to address those problems. This may include “engagement” with foreign governments or other activities to “safely reopen these critical microelectronics and semiconductor facilities,” Commerce said. The agency hopes the alert system can help it better address real-time supply chain issues, especially those related to the global chip shortage.

While too early to declare a success, the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council has set both sides on a path toward tangible progress on more export controls and investment screening collaboration, experts said. During the inaugural TTC meeting last week, the U.S. and EU agreed to develop “convergent” export controls and share more information to catch malign foreign investments (see 2109290083), which could result in meaningful changes within the next year, the experts said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has faced challenges applying some of its new export control rules during the last year, including its military end-use and end-user regulations and broader semiconductor-related policies toward China, a senior BIS official said. Matt Borman, BIS’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration, said he recognizes the rules may also be causing compliance challenges for industry, and the agency is considering more guidance.

The U.S. and the European Union agreed to develop “convergent” export controls on sensitive technologies and work more closely on investment screening, the White House said in a fact sheet released after the Sept. 29 inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (see 2109270027). Although the White House didn’t name specific technologies that could come under more export control or investment scrutiny, it stressed the importance of semiconductor supply chain cooperation and said the two sides agreed to “achieve concrete outcomes by the next meeting.”

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Sept. 20-24 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Texas semiconductor component manufacturer nearly $500,000 for illegally exporting controlled wafers to Russia via Bulgaria (see 2012210013), the agency said in a Sept. 28 order. The company, Silicon Space Technology Corporation, which began doing business as Vorago Technologies in 2015, worked with a Russian engineering firm to export “rad-hard 16MB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) wafers,” which were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations for spacecraft and related components.

The U.S. plans to prioritize discussions on export controls and investment screening tools during the first meeting of the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council this week (see 2109130025), senior administration officials said. The two sides plan to release a set of shared trade and technology commitments after the Sept. 29 meeting in Pittsburgh, which should hint at closer collaboration on various trade restrictions, one official said, particularly involving semiconductors.

The Commerce and State departments will jointly oversee an “early alert system” to better manage potential semiconductor supply chain disruptions “linked to public health developments in key trading partners,” the White House said Sept. 23. The alert system, announced after the administration met with semiconductor industry representatives to discuss supply chain issues, will allow the government to better anticipate and detect supply chain issues and increase engagement with foreign governments and industry, the White House said.