Carol Lee, former associate at Clifford Chance, has joined Womble Bond as a partner in the business litigation group. Lee's practice will center on export controls, economic sanctions, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. proceedings and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, the firm said.
A bill that says the Taiwan trade initiative can't take effect until the administration submits an economic analysis of its effects and answers questions from Congress on implementation has passed both chambers of Congress. The bill also says the next deal between Taiwan and the U.S. must gain congressional approval.
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 Global Investment in American Jobs Act, a bill that directs the administration to produce a report on the effect of trade barriers to U.S. digital exports and on the extent of foreign direct investment in U.S. companies by state-owned enterprises, passed the House of Representatives by a 386-22 vote July 17. There is no similar bill introduced in the Senate.
A bipartisan bill recently introduced in the House would give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. the power to block all U.S. land purchases by entities from certain “foreign adversary” countries and require mandatory CFIUS filings for those entities buying land near all American military bases. The Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act, introduced last week, also would establish a “presumption of non-resolvability” for those reviews, which would require the committee to assume at the outset that any national security concerns can’t be resolved.
Akin added three partners from Hughes Hubbard to its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced. Ryan Fayhee, a former national security official at DOJ, will advise clients on sanctions and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. reviews, incident response and compliance best practices. Roy Liu will focus on U.S.-China trade matters, sanctions, export controls, customs cases and CFIUS proceedings, and Tyler Grove will focus on sanctions and trade regulations.
The fourth round of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) concluded in South Korea last week, and the Commerce Department and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the countries' delegations "continued to make progress" toward the trade, clean economy and fair economy pillars, and advanced the legal review of the supply chain pillar.
The Biden administration’s potential outbound investment screening program could feature a combination of notification requirements and, in some cases, outright prohibitions on American investments in China, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week. She also offered the administration’s strongest comments to date in support of a new investment screening regime, saying there’s a “good chance” the U.S. issues the rules.
Republicans last week criticized the Biden administration’s “lack of sanctions enforcement” against Iran, saying the country continues to sell oil to China and use those profits to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. The lawmakers called on the Treasury and State departments to develop a strategy to “prevent Iran’s petrochemical industry from supporting the regime’s nefarious activities,” saying the strategy should include more sanctions against Chinese people and companies buying Iranian energy.