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.
Twenty-one technology, auto and business groups urged the House and Senate to quickly negotiate a compromise for their China competition bills that would authorize funding for the Chips Act and other domestic semiconductor sector investments. The Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate and House should “take immediate action to reconcile the two bills” and send a passed version to President Joe Biden, the groups said in a Feb. 16 letter signed by the Semiconductor Industry Association, SEMI, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Automotive Policy Council and others.
The Commerce Department should add more Chinese companies to the Entity List, better restrict China’s government organizations and target the country with unilateral controls when appropriate, China Tech Threat said this week. The organization, which is run by Strand Consult and advocates for stronger export controls on China, said Commerce should add China semiconductor companies Yangtze Memory Technologies and Changxin Memory Technologies to the Entity List and tailor export controls to better target Chinese “pseudo-government organizations.” Commerce should also “prioritize” unilateral controls on American semiconductor manufacturing equipment by employing a “control-now-cooperate-later” approach, China Tech Threat said.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a California district court ruling dismissing a case brought by investors in U.S. semiconductor developer Qualcomm over an alleged scheme by the American company to illegally block Singapore firm Broadcom's bid to take over Qualcomm. Investors had argued Qualcomm had improperly lobbied lawmakers and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to block the acquisition.