CBP posted the following documents ahead of the Dec. 7 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
The U.S. is looking to “aggressively” reform and bolster its export controls and investment screening tools to counter China, particularly surrounding emerging and foundational technologies, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, speaking Nov. 30 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Raimondo outlined what she called the U.S.’s “economic competitiveness strategy” toward China, stressing that the administration isn't looking to sever trade ties with the country but that companies in sensitive sectors should be reassessing business with China.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would impose the contract that eight rail unions approved but four rejected, a contract that protects health insurance benefits and increases pay 24% across four years, with more than half of those pay increases applied retroactively, since the last contract expired in mid-2020.
Mike Walsh, former chief of staff and acting general counsel at the Commerce Department, has joined Shearman & Sterling as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office's litigation wing, the firm announced. His practice will center on the national security elements of cross-border transactions, including matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., export controls, Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions and other cross-border investment proceedings. From 2018 to 2021, Walsh oversaw "legal initiatives" at Commerce, including CFIUS, export enforcement functions and appellate litigation. Most recently, Walsh was a partner at Foley & Lardner.
World Trade Organization members addressed a "record number of trade concerns" during a Nov. 24-25 meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods, the WTO said. Topics included how the council could implement some of the outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference: the work program on electronic commerce, the WTO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and WTO reform. The committee also wanted to continue talks on the Least-Developed Countries Group's proposal for some countries to graduate from LDC status. The next council meeting is April 3-4.
Nearly 60 agricultural trade groups, companies and ag services providing trade groups asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to schedule confirmation votes for the chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and for the undersecretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs at USDA.
World Trade Organization members during a Nov. 21-22 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture agreed to set up a new work program to tackle food security concerns of least-developed countries and net food-importing developing countries, the WTO announced. The decision effectuates a mandate in the 12th Ministerial Conference's Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity. Committee Chair Marcel Vernooij was appointed coordinator to facilitate the discussions under the initiative, the WTO said. Members also deferred until the next committee meeting in March the decision on the first triennial review of the operation of the Bali Tariff Rate Quota Decision.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the primary movers behind the Chips Act, told an audience that more domains need policymakers' attention so that they don't wake up to find that China has become dominant in an important emerging technology. He noted that before becoming a politician, he "was in the telecommunication space," and said that realizing that China is dominating 5G with two heavily subsidized champion companies was the "final wake-up call" that engagement and deeper trade with China is not the right way to go.
The U.S. will allow Chevron to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela, giving the California-based energy company a “limited” license to pump oil in the sanctioned country for the first time in years. The license, which the White House believes will have a minimal impact on Venezuela's oil shipments, was issued in an effort to support the newly restarted negotiations between President Nicolas Maduro’s regime and the country’s opposition party, the Treasury Department said. It also comes amid opposition from U.S. Republicans, who warned the administration that a license would only offer the Maduro regime sanctions relief and undermine prospects for the return of democracy to Venezuela (see 2211020032, 2210280032 and 2210060014).
Republicans on House Oversight and Commerce committees are seeking additional documents and information from TikTok about its data collection activities after previous rounds of questioning left some issues unresolved. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the top Republican on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the top Republican on the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said they hope more information can aid the Biden administration to mitigate any “potentially negative consequences to U.S. national security” resulting from TikTok’s operation in the U.S.