Charlie Steele, former chief counsel at the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control during 2019-2020, launched a solo law practice called the Law Office of Charles Steele, the attorney announced on LinkedIn. The firm's work will center on "U.S. economic sanctions matters, including counseling, compliance advice, license applications, enforcement matters, and delisting petitions," along with proceedings involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and national security. Steele added that he will continue his practice at Forensic Risk Alliance, where he has worked as a partner since 2020.
The European Union needs to better coordinate with its member states on potential export controls against China’s chip industry, said Noah Barkin, a Europe-China relations expert with the Rhodium Group. Barkin, speaking during a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing this week, said the EU is still grappling with how to best impose dual-use export controls and isn’t yet at a place where it can match U.S. restrictions.
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and John Cornyn of Texas reintroduced a bill this week to expand U.S. foreign investment reviews to cover companies “working with genetic information.” The Genomics Expenditures and National Security Enhancement Act, originally introduced in 2021 (see 2105250022), would direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to “rewrite its regulations” to require mandatory filings for any foreign investments that involve genetic information. CFIUS would be required to consult with the Department of Health and Human Services on any deal that involves a “genetic data transaction,” and would be required to include the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence and the Foreign Relations Committee in its briefings.
Technology academics and industry officials this week cautioned Congress about potential U.S. export controls over quantum technologies and research, saying new restrictions without clear guidance could hamper U.S. competitiveness and innovation. But one current government official suggested the administration needs to be more “proactive” in protecting the most sensitive research from being stolen.
The U.S. should push the World Trade Organization to end trade-related intellectual property waiver conditions, experts told a House subcommittee this week, saying the waiver may help China acquire sensitive U.S. technologies and leapfrog American innovation in biopharma. Several experts during the hearing suggested the waivers could act as a loophole to U.S. export controls and allow Chinese companies to better compete with the U.S. in the biotechnology industry.
World Trade Organization members decided on new chairpersons for the 14 subsidiary bodies reporting to the Council for Trade in Goods, the WTO announced. The new chairpersons include Turkey's Aysegul Sahinoglu Yerdes for the Committee on Anti-dumping Practices, New Zealand's James Lester for the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Finland's Anna Vitie for the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade and Norway's Kjetil Tysdal for the Committee on Agriculture.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee issued an update on the status of its Export Modernization Working Group as well as one draft recommendation for CBP ahead of the COAC’s June 14 meeting.
The U.S. and its allies should tighten export restrictions on artificial intelligence technologies destined to China, said Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla.. Waltz, speaking during a June 5 event hosted by the Atlantic Council, said America and its close trading partners need to “collaborate and innovate within a bubble that can be protected,” adding that cutting off technology trade with China will be inevitable. “I just don't see a way forward without decoupling,” he said.
As part of the phase one trade agreement, China agreed to allow imports of chicken on a state-by-state basis after avian influenza cases, as long as 90 days had passed since the last case, and disinfection protocols had been completed.
A joint letter from U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to the Senate Finance Committee chairman defended their efforts to engage with Congress as they negotiate the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.