U.S. exporters will not face barriers in exporting to the EU in the near-term, but as more products are added to the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism, it could become a disadvantage under the EU's plans for a carbon border adjustment tariff.
Allied export control authorities should be more nimble, harmonized and coordinated to maximize their effectiveness, particularly around Russia restrictions, said Kevin Wolf, a former senior U.S. export control official. In written comments last week to the U.K. Parliament’s arms export control committees, Wolf also said the U.K. and other countries can improve their export enforcement efforts against Russia, including by creating incentives for companies to “enhance” their compliance programs, dedicating more resources to study Russian sanctions evasion and working together to create a “standard structure of export control violations.”
Technology competition with China, including U.S. foreign direct investment reviews, will be part of the oversight priorities of the Republican-controlled House during the next Congress, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said last week.
More than half of the House Ways and Means Committee members, including all three of the Republicans vying to be its chairman in the next Congress, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to initiate formal dispute resolution consultations with Mexico over Mexico's barriers to U.S. crops that are genetically modified or use other biotechnology.
As the EU and the U.S. look to impose new export controls on emerging technologies, they should also pursue efforts to remove outdated emerging tech export restrictions that are no longer effective, said Magnus Nordeus, of Digital Europe, a trade policy group, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum last week. Nordeus said the two sides should “add an ongoing de-control review” to make sure trade policies aren’t unnecessarily placing U.S. and EU industry at a disadvantage compared with foreign companies.
CBP should develop a “verification process” for self-propelled vehicle exports, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Export Modernization Working Group said during a Dec. 7 COAC meeting. CBP should also explore using its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism for exports, the group said.
Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., speaking at an event hosted by Punchbowl News, asserted he will be the next chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, not Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said Republican and Democratic staff on the committee "haven’t had extensive discussions on GSP and MTB, and won't, my sense is, as long as there’s an insistence on [linking them to renewing] Trade Adjustment Assistance."
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 24 companies to the Entity List for participating in a range of illegal exports, including efforts to aid Russia’s military, supply export-controlled items to Iran or support Pakistan’s nuclear activities, the agency said in a final rule released Dec. 7. The additions include entities located in Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. BIS also removed one company from the Entity List.
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Coons, D-Del, laid out parameters of a trade package they hope to get passed in the next three weeks in Congress.