A bipartisan group of lawmakers is traveling to Europe this week to discuss security issues, including topics surrounding Russia and China. The group, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., will travel to Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands to discuss the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “imperative of confronting shared threats from the Chinese Communist Party,” according to an Aug. 31 news release issued by McCaul. “Together, we can harness the transatlantic alliance to safeguard our shared interests and ensure unprovoked aggression does not go unanswered anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Commerce Department’s new trade working group and export control enforcement initiative with China (see 2308280042) is “at best naive, but also dangerous,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said. China “steals U.S. intellectual property and hacks the emails of senior government officials,” said McCaul, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “The administration must stop treating the [Chinese Communist Party] as anything other than an adversary who will stop at nothing to harm our national security and spread its malign authoritarianism around the globe.”
A new House bill with Republican support could establish more congressional oversight on any scientific partnership agreements between the U.S. and China, including the Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that was due to expire Aug. 27 (see 2308070055). The Science and Technology Agreement Enhanced Congressional Notification Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., last week, would require the State Department to “provide comprehensive details to Congress about any new agreement” and wait at least 30 days “post-submission before proceeding.”
A bill reintroduced last week could allow any House member to force a debate on the House floor over certain contested U.S. arms sales. The Arms Sale Oversight Act, which has been introduced in previous years, would align House procedures for reviewing major arms sales with certain existing Senate procedures and give House members the ability to discuss those proposed sales if the House Foreign Affairs Committee doesn’t debate them. The bill was introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and co-sponsored by Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
India imposed additional restrictions on the export of basmati rice in an attempt to stop non-basmati white rice exports being misclassified as basmati rice, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced. After barring the export of non-basmati white rice July 20, the ministry said contracts for basmati exports valued at over $1,200 per metric ton should be registered for an allocation certificate and contracts valued below $1,200 per metric ton may be kept in abeyance and evaluated by a committee for "understanding the variation in prices and use of this route for export of non-Basmati white rice."
The Treasury Department released its agenda for its second annual conference for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which will be held Sept. 14 in person at the Treasury building in Washington. Speakers include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, CFIUS head Paul Rosen and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The conference will include sessions on CFIUS priorities, investor due diligence, non-notified transactions, compliance and enforcement and how other legal authorities affect CFIUS. Event registration closes Aug. 31.
Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Aug. 24 announced 130 new industry officials to sit on seven agricultural trade advisory committees, including bodies that advise the government on trade policies for animal products, fruits and vegetables, grains, cotton, nuts and more. The new members, who join 70 committee members whose terms haven’t yet expired, will serve until August 2027. The new members represent a range of trade groups and companies.
A pair of U.S. and Israeli 3D printing technology companies said they are submitting disclosures to both the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the State Department ahead of their planned $500 million combination, Squire Patton said in an Aug. 24 post. Israeli-based Stratasys plans to acquire U.S.-based Desktop Metal, which was described in an August SEC filing as a “pioneering a new generation of additive manufacturing technologies” focused on the “volume production of end-use parts.” The companies said they submitted a “notice filing” to CFIUS in July and plan to submit a “notice filing” to the State Department “pursuant” to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. may continue to see a drop in short-form declarations, particularly if more declarations continue to result in full filings, said Laura Fraedrich, a lawyer with Lowenstein Sandler. She said the decrease in declarations submitted to CFIUS last year -- the first drop since the concept was introduced in 2018 -- highlights the challenges investors face in assessing how best to approach CFIUS.
A bill was introduced in the House that could lead to new export controls on genetic mapping technology and sanction entities in China and elsewhere involved in certain genetic mapping efforts. The bill would specifically direct the Commerce Department to deny licenses for those exporting these items to certain countries unless the exporter can submit documentation to the government "to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that, if the license is approved, the technology will not be used for human rights abuses or by an entity that has engaged in human rights abuses."