U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai gave testimony April 17 to the Senate Finance Committee regarding President Joe Biden’s 2024 trade policy agenda. She touched mainly on trade deal enforcement, U.S. exporters’ access to new markets and the USTR’s new stance on digital trade, though she also discussed issues such as forced labor and the upcoming legislation on the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y, criticized the Biden administration last week for reportedly allowing Intel to export “cutting-edge chip technology” to China’s Huawei for use in the new Matebook X Pro computer, even though Huawei has been on the Commerce Department’s Entity List since 2019 (see 1905160072).
U.S. companies should expect more retaliation from China if the Bureau of Industry and Security adds more major Chinese technology firms to its Entity List this year, Paul Trulio, a China and technology policy expert, said during an event last week hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Trulio and other panelists also said it’s unclear exactly how a possible second Trump administration may tweak U.S. export control policy toward Beijing, but they said it’s possible former President Donald Trump, if reelected, could significantly increase restrictions on Chinese firms through potential financial sanctions and may pressure allies to do the same.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to continue cooperating around technology export controls in a meeting between their two top commerce ministers April 10.
The EU is launching an investigation on Chinese government subsidies awarded to suppliers of wind turbines destined for Europe, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said April 9. She said the probe will focus on the “conditions for the development of wind parks in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria.
Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on April 9 introduced a bill that would increase resources for detecting, investigating and preventing violations of U.S. export controls.
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The Commerce Department will award up to $6.6 billion in funding to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company under the Chips Act to help the leading semiconductor manufacturing firm build fabs in Arizona, the agency announced April 8. Commerce said it signed a “non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms” with TSMC for the funding, which will help it build two previously announced fabs in Phoenix (see 2005150033) and an additional third fab before the end of the decade.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week threatened sanctions against Chinese banks if they facilitate payments that aid Russia’s military and urged Beijing against placing unclear restrictions on sales from certain U.S. chip companies, saying American firms want more transparency in China.
The U.S. and the EU continued to discuss export controls, investment screening and other economic statecraft tools during the sixth meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council last week, saying they have made progress harmonizing export licensing decisions and plan to soon launch a new investment screening initiative. The two sides also renewed a mechanism to pinpoint and prevent global semiconductor supply chains issues and announced a new forum to coordinate on critical minerals trade.