The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. should “swiftly” conclude its review of TikTok (see 2212210007) and impose “strict structural restrictions” between the app and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, two senators said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said CFIUS should consider "separating" TikTok and ByteDance, adding that reports of the app’s collection of U.S. private data prove TikTok and ByteDance “cannot be trusted by CFIUS or its tens of millions of users in the United States.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans are asking the Bureau of Industry and Security for information on its export enforcement and compliance efforts involving China, including steps to crack down on Chinese transfers of controlled U.S. technology to State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSTs). In a letter sent to BIS last week, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chair of the committee, said he is concerned China’s “economic and trade ties” with terrorism sponsors is “undermining U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.” He and Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., asked BIS to provide information on recent Chinese export violations, licensing procedures, end-use checks and more by March 2.
As U.S. government regulators continue to face pressure from Congress to more quickly place export restrictions on emerging technologies, the Commerce Department and industry officials are grappling with the potential ethical consequences of controls on a technology that could have groundbreaking medical benefits.
World Trade Organization members decided Feb. 10 at a Trade and Development Committee meeting that the 2023-24 Aid for Trade work program will be focused on "Partnerships for Food Security, Digital Connectivity and Mainstreaming Trade," the WTO said. The committee also heard updates on activities meant to boost trade opportunities for developing countries.
House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said the Biden administration is leaving an opportunity on the table by not continuing negotiations for a comprehensive trade agreement with the U.K.
Madagascar launched a safeguard investigation Feb. 11 covering concentrated milk, the country told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards. Along with the investigation, Madagascar imposed a provisional measure on concentrated milk imports. Parties looking to participate in the investigation should contact the National Authority Responsible for Trade Corrective Measures within 30 days from the start of the investigation.
The U.S. goods movement supply chain is in a “much better place” than it was in October and might be undergoing a “pre-pandemic resetting,” said Stephen Lyons, the Transportation Department’s port and supply chain envoy. Lyons, speaking during the Feb. 15 meeting of the Commerce Department’s Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness, attributed a “large degree” of the improvements to weakened demand. “When you look at shipping times, when you look at freight costs, when you look at basic confidence and reliability in systems,” he said, “that has improved dramatically relative to where we were a year ago.”
The muted response of the agriculture secretary to Mexico's concessions on genetically modified corn was not enough, according to Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Smith sent a letter Feb. 15 to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai arguing that it is time to initiate a formal dispute over the non-tariff-barriers.
A new set of recommendations previewed by a member of the Federal Maritime Commission this week could help carriers, ports, railroads and others better harmonize supply chain data and information sharing. Commissioner Carl Bentzel, speaking during a Feb. 15 Commerce Department advisory committee meeting, said he hopes to know this summer whether the FMC plans to move forward with a formal rulemaking.
The U.S., the EU and others can take steps to improve how they administer export controls, deliver guidance to industry and more efficiently target dangerous end users, experts said this week. One expert specifically called on the U.S. to revise the Entity List, which should better isolate the worst export control offenders.