Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week declined to say when she expects the Bureau of Industry and Security to finalize its Oct. 7 China chip controls (see 2210070049, saying it’s more important to her that the agency takes its time and gets the updated restrictions “right.” She also said she doesn’t see Chips Act funding and restrictions on American chips sales to China as contradictory and denied reports that the administration has delayed new export controls against China in an effort to limit damage to its relationship with Beijing.
A former senior export control official with the Commerce Department told the House Select Committee on China that he thinks the Entity List is ineffective against China, because countries can change their names, establish partnerships, change locations, and because the Entity List is a "meat cleaver" approach, given that listed parties are subject to very strict licensing requirements.
Republicans on the House Select Committee on China urged U.S. officials this week to cut off a broader range of exports to China, arguing that trade with China is helping to fund Beijing’s efforts to undermine American national security. Committee chair Mike Galagher, R-Wis., specifically asked witnesses from the Commerce, State and Defense Departments to enact a technology export ban on Huawei that the administration has reportedly been considering for the last year (see 2301310009).
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that would implement export control changes and updates agreed to during the 2022 Wassenaar Arrangement. The rule was sent for review July 18 and would amend the Export Administration Regulations and Commerce Control List.
A State Department official this week denied allegations that the agency has held back sanctions and export controls in an effort to limit damage to the U.S.-China relationship, saying the Biden administration continues to enforce a range of human rights-related trade restrictions against Beijing. But the official also said the administration hasn’t yet imposed mandatory sanctions under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and was accused by at least one lawmaker of failing to comply with a congressional subpoena that sought information on sanctions against China.
Joseph Cristofaro left his position as chair of the End-User Review Committee to become the new director of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Sensors and Aviation Division, he announced during a July 18 technical advisory committee meeting. Cristofaro said he started his new role in late May.
The Commerce Department published its spring 2023 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Census Bureau, including new rules that will add more entities to the Entity List and finalize new export filing requirements.
The U.S. may need to address export control loopholes to better prevent China and others from acquiring sensitive technologies, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said, but he also cautioned the U.S. against imposing controls that are too broad and said they need to be coordinated with allies.
As the U.S. continues to expand its chip export controls, South Korean and other multinational firms with semiconductor investments in China “face an uncertain future,” the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in a report this week. The report, authored by PIIE senior fellow Martin Chorzempa, outlines both the “collateral damage and new opportunities” for South Korean companies as a result of the Commerce Department's Oct. 7 controls (see 2210070049), saying Korean firms “have been some of the most impacted non-Chinese firms due to their large memory chip production facilities in China.” The report also recommends the U.S. do more to “reduce uncertainty” for allies operating in the region.
A new rule change by the Bureau of Industry and Security will subject a broader range of chemical mixtures to declaration requirements, including for export or import. The revisions, outlined in a final rule that takes effect July 3, lowers the concentration threshold level at which mixtures containing certain controlled chemicals are subject to the declaration requirements. The change brings the U.S. Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations “into further alignment” with guidelines adopted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2009, which established the lower concentration threshold limit for certain chemicals.