After more than 25 industry associations urged the Commerce Department to grant more time for comments on its next advance notice of proposed rulemaking for foundational technologies, top Commerce officials said it will consider the request but suggested that U.S. industries have had ample time to prepare comments.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau plan to issue a proposed rule for routed export transactions during the summer or fall of 2019, said Sharron Cook, a senior export policy analyst with BIS, at BIS’s annual export controls conference on July 10. The long-awaited proposed rule is expected to update parties’ responsibilities under the Export Administration Regulations in a routed export transaction.

Vinson & Elkins hired Damara Chambers, previously at Covington & Burling, as a partner and co-leader of the firm's national security practice, Vinson & Elkins said in a news release. "Chambers focuses her practice on national security reviews conducted by [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] and other agencies, including the Defense Security Service and the Department of Energy in connection with the mitigation of foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI), and the State Department in connection with reviews pursuant to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations," the firm said.

Stephen Vaughn, former general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, will rejoin King & Spalding as a partner, the law firm said in a July 9 news release. Vaughn was at the law firm before going to USTR. Vaughn "has been directly involved in every major trade-related determination and negotiation that has occurred in the past two and a half years,” said Wick Sollers, head of the firm’s Government Matters practice group, which is over the International Trade team that Vaughn will be joining.

The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​​

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said that although under fast track authority the administration could send the implementing bill for the NAFTA rewrite on July 9, the administration will not be doing that. "There's respect for this legislative process and the importance of Pelosi involved this process... the White House is not going to do anything without consulting with her," he said. He referred to White House Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow's comments earlier that morning about the administration's plans.

Consultations over South Korea's monopoly law sought back in March (see 1903150025) occurred July 9, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced. Michael Beeman, assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, Korea and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Affairs, led the consultation in South Korea. The U.S. says South Korea is not living up to its commitments in the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). The agreement says that a party before the Korea Free Trade Commission or the International Trade Commission should be able to review and rebut the evidence against it.

Huawei will remain on the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List but "we've opened the door, relaxed a bit the licensing requirements from the Commerce Department where there are not national security influences or consequences," White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said at a CNBC Capital Exchange event July 9. For example, "some of the chip companies would be permitted to sell on a limited basis to Huawei," he said. Those may be parts for "general merchandise" that ends up in countries "where we don't hold any great cachet," such as South Korea or Vietnam, he said. "That's the sort of thing that will be opened up that was closed." Kudlow also noted that China and the U.S. aren't far apart in their trade talks, but said that sometimes the last pieces can be the most difficult to resolve. China has resisted U.S. requests for change in Chinese laws and for enforcement provisions, he said.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on three Iran-backed Hizballah and Lebanese government officials who helped “bolster Iran’s malign activities,” Treasury said in a July 9 press release. The announcement came two days after the State Department threatened more Iran sanctions in response to the country breaching the enriched uranium limit set in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (see 1907080019).

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 1-5 in case they were missed.