The EU and Japan on April 30 held their second Digital Partnership Council, agreeing on "new deliverables to further cooperate on core digital technologies," including artificial intelligence, 5G, 6G, semiconductors, high performance computing (HPC) and quantum technology, the European Commission announced.

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China expressed serious concern over the Japanese government's announcement of plans to implement new export controls on semiconductors and other technologies, according to a summary of answers to reporters' questions from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said the move is an effort to generalize the notion of national security and abuse export control measures to fragment the global semiconductor market. The result will "seriously affect the normal trade exchanges between Chinese and Japanese companies" and damage the global supply chain. China said it will "take necessary measures" to safeguard its interests.

The U.S. should rethink its export control enforcement efforts by creating an ecosystem of preapproved, trusted sellers and logistics providers instead of blacklists of bad actors, a researcher with the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report this month. The report said some of those companies would be required to earn an export compliance certification, use digital waybills to reduce chances of documentation fraud and help trace sensitive exports, and submit monthly reports to the Bureau of Industry and Security about suspicious consignments.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., urged the Commerce Department last week to immediately revoke all export licenses to China’s Huawei, saying the Bureau of Industry and Security is allowing a foreign adversary's company to obtain too much advanced U.S. technology.

The Commerce Department should start preparing export controls for dual-use artificial intelligence models, which could prevent those models from being used to make biosecurity weapons or skirt U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, researchers told the agency in comments released this month. But technology companies and industry groups warned the U.S. against overbroad controls, which they said could hurt American AI innovation.

Russia is still able to buy semiconductors for its war effort -- especially from China -- despite Western sanctions and export controls, a semiconductor policy researcher said in a new report this month. Although the restrictions are forcing Russia to pay almost double for some chips and require Russian supply chain managers to constantly find new supply lines, the report said Chinese suppliers are increasingly filling the market gap left by companies in the U.S. and elsewhere who are adhering to the export restrictions.

U.S. exports of semiconductors and their components to China dropped 39% to $6.8 billion in 2023 and were down 52% from their 2021 peak, partly due to restrictions the Bureau of Industry and Security released in October 2022 and expanded a year later (see [Ref:2310170055), the U.S.-China Business Council said April 23.

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.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said April 17 she’s concerned that a host of upcoming elections around the world could fuel harmful sentiment against international trade.