Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Coons, D-Del, laid out parameters of a trade package they hope to get passed in the next three weeks in Congress.

The Bureau of Industry and Security extended the comment period for its recently announced chip export controls against China, saying it wanted to give more time for commenters to review the October rule and submit their feedback. Comments were originally due Dec. 12 (see 2210070049) but will now be due Jan. 31, BIS said in a notice released Dec. 5. The new controls, designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors, have posed challenges for some in the semiconductor industry and sparked calls for additional guidance (see 2211010042 and 2211150044).

The U.S. and the EU announced new export control initiatives during the Trade and Technology Council’s meetings this week, including a pilot program to better exchange information on dual-use export controls and a new effort to increase research collaboration on quantum technologies. But the U.S. didn’t use the meetings to try to convince European officials to push its firms, such as ASML, to adopt more stringent chip export controls against China, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

U.S. share of global semiconductor design revenue has declined over the past decade, partly due to export controls and other trade restrictions, the Semiconductor Industry Association and Boston Consulting Group said in a report last week. If the U.S. continues on its path and doesn’t properly tailor its restrictions, U.S. shares of global revenues could drop 10 percentage points over this decade, the report warned.

The U.S. expects allies to eventually impose similar semiconductor export controls against China, said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, echoing comments by Commerce Department officials earlier this year (see 2210270047 and 2211040014). Sullivan, speaking Nov. 30 during a conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the South Korean JoongAng media group, said the U.S. “engaged in intensive consultations” with South Korea and Japan before the administration's latest chip controls were released in October (see 2210070049), which ultimately shaped how the restrictions were crafted and could lead to those two countries and other joining the U.S.

The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology this week extended until Dec. 12 its comment period as it solicits feedback on certain domestic semiconductor initiatives. NIST, which first requested comments in October, said it’s looking for feedback to “inform the design of, and requirements for, potential Manufacturing USA institutes to strengthen the semiconductor and microelectronics innovation ecosystem, which could include design, fabrication, advanced test, assembly, and packaging capability.” Responses will inform the agency’s “development of funding opportunities for federal assistance to establish Manufacturing USA semiconductor institutes,” a national network of linked manufacturing institutes aimed at bolstering U.S. technology innovation, as envisioned in the Chips and Science Act. Comments were originally due Nov. 28.

The U.S. is looking to “aggressively” reform and bolster its export controls and investment screening tools to counter China, particularly surrounding emerging and foundational technologies, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, speaking Nov. 30 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Raimondo outlined what she called the U.S.’s “economic competitiveness strategy” toward China, stressing that the administration isn't looking to sever trade ties with the country but that companies in sensitive sectors should be reassessing business with China.

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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the primary movers behind the Chips Act, told an audience that more domains need policymakers' attention so that they don't wake up to find that China has become dominant in an important emerging technology. He noted that before becoming a politician, he "was in the telecommunication space," and said that realizing that China is dominating 5G with two heavily subsidized champion companies was the "final wake-up call" that engagement and deeper trade with China is not the right way to go.

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan, or any other type of “conflict” initiated against the island by Beijing, would have “immediate and dramatically negative effects on China’s ability to import and export goods” and would spur a range of international sanctions, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a Nov. 22 report. CSIS said the U.S. and other Western countries would impose strict sanctions and export controls against China, which would “probably persist for months or perhaps years after a conflict, even if U.S. military forces are defeated” in the case of a war.