The U.S. is planning new export controls to restrict sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips to certain parts of the world in a bid to further limit China’s ability to access them, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 13. The rules, which could reportedly come this month, may place caps on shipments of AI chips to certain countries for use in large computing facilities, including nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Close U.S. allies would not be affected, the report said. The Biden administration recently sent letters to major chipmakers informing them about some of the restrictions.
The U.S. and its allies should increase their scrutiny of China's foreign investment in commercial remote sensing firms to ensure the Chinese military does not benefit from such transactions, the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a new report Dec. 16.
The U.S. government needs a better framework to allow various agencies to coordinate on economic security measures, such as export controls and investment restrictions, Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said.
Even if a transaction is authorized by a Treasury Department sanctions license or a Commerce Department export license, it still may be subject to prohibitions or notification requirements under Treasury’s new outbound investment rules (see 2410280043), the agency said in new FAQs.
Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel is leaving the FMC to become president of the National Association of Waterfront Employers and executive director of the National Maritime Safety Association, he said in a Dec. 13 statement. “I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity to continue to work within the maritime industry and to contribute to the growth of the terminal operating industry,” he said.
Baylink Shipping, a New York-based non-vessel operating common carrier, has voluntarily dismissed it complaint accusing ocean carrier ZIM Integrated Shipping Services of unfairly charging more than $136,000 in fees for a cargo container that spent more than 20 months in detention, according to a notice the Federal Maritime Commission posted online Dec. 12. Baylink, which filed the complaint in November (see 2411260049), didn't state a reason for the dismissal.
A possible rise in U.S. trade protectionism under the incoming Donald Trump administration could lead to several key “constraints” on the American economy, especially for exporters, said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
President Joe Biden called for the creation of a new task force to counter foreign economic coercion, which he said will help the U.S. better respond to coercive measures by “countries of concern,” including China.
The U.S. last week indicted 14 North Korean nationals working as part of a “long-running” conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions. DOJ said they used fake or borrowed identities of Americans and others to pose as remote information technology employees for U.S. companies and generate revenue for the North Korean government.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged TikTok Dec. 13 to comply with an eight-month-old law that will ban the popular social media application in the U.S. unless it is divested by Chinese parent company ByteDance by Jan. 19.