The U.S. and Latvian governments last week gathered officials from the U.K., Canada, the EU and Ukraine to discuss export controls and sanctions in Latvia, including how those measures are affecting Russia, the Latvian government said in a news release.
The U.S. should continue working with allies to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors and semiconductor tools to China after the Biden administration leaves next month, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. But she also said she hopes the Trump administration prioritizes tools other than export controls and tariffs to counter China, and she warned against a potential decoupling of the two economies.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Dec. 11 will add eight companies to the Entity List for “enabling human rights violations,” including by supplying sensitive technology or military items to foreign governments that are subject to strict license requirements. The entities are located in Myanmar, China and Russia, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 10. They will be subject to license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and licenses will be reviewed under a presumption of denial.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on the impact of the Chemical Weapons Convention on commercial activities during 2024. The agency is specifically looking for feedback on how those activities involving Schedule 1 chemicals were affected to determine whether CWC decisions "harmed" the “legitimate commercial activities and interests of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms” this year. Comments are due by Jan. 8.
Nearly half of U.S. companies surveyed by the Bureau of Industry and Security this year said they didn’t know whether their products contained any Chinese-made, mature-node semiconductors, BIS said in a summary of those survey results released Dec. 6.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the Bureau of Industry and Security Dec. 4 to close several “loopholes” in its new export controls on advanced computing chips and chipmaking equipment (see 2412020016).
The incoming Trump administration could look to continue expanding the scope of U.S. foreign direct product rule restrictions, which could lead to enforcement challenges or push foreign companies to design U.S. components out of their supply chains, think tank scholars said last week.
The Census Bureau added two new license codes and revised an existing license code in the Automated Export System this week to reflect the Bureau of Industry and Security's latest export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) (see 2412020016).
The U.S. must continue to coordinate with allies on export controls, especially around Russia-related trade restrictions and curbs on advanced semiconductors and semiconductor tools destined to China, the Bureau of Industry and Security's Thea Kendler said during her final international outreach event as a Biden administration official.
The Bureau of Industry and Security named Tara Gonzalez as director of the agency’s Emerging Technology Division, she announced this week on LinkedIn. Gonzalez joined BIS in 2020, and was most recently a senior policy adviser within the division.