The Bureau of Industry and Security last week announced a broad set of new export controls it said will restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors. The controls, outlined in an interim final rule that will take effect in phases, will impose new restrictions on a range of advanced computing semiconductor chips and semiconductor manufacturing items, impose controls on transactions for supercomputer end-uses and certain integrated circuit end-uses, and introduce new restrictions on transactions involving certain entities on the Entity List.
SK ecoplant Co., a South Korean construction engineering firm, recently received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to acquire U.S.-based Bloom Energy, Squire Patton Boggs said in a post this week. The acquisition was valued at $500 million, the post said.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and 36 other House Republicans are calling on the administration to include Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, to expeditiously finalize provisions in the U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework, and to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible. The bill, introduced Sept. 28, is called the Taiwan Policy Act. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas said, "Deterrence is key to stopping the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] from provoking a conflict that would seriously harm U.S. national security.”
The White House should hold off on issuing a “unilateral” executive order on outbound investment screening (see 2209290043 and 2209140041) and should instead work with Congress to address sensitive investment flows to China, said Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. In an Oct. 3 letter to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, McHenry said he is “concerned that the Administration may choose to resort to unilateral measures,” including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, rather than “work with Congress to address the threat posed by China.”
Sohan Dasgupta, a former Department of Homeland Security deputy general counsel, joined Taft as a partner in its Washington, D.C.-based Litigation practice group, the firm announced. Dasgupta worked at both DHS and as special counsel at the Department of Education. In these positions, he worked on matters relating to international trade, including export controls, sanctions, customs compliance, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Team Telecom and the supply chain, the firm said. Most recently, he was a partner and member at Frost Brown.
The Federal Maritime Commission awarded a $500,000 contract to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study intermodal chassis pools and whether they can be made more efficient. The study, mandated by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, also will look at the advantages and disadvantages of current chassis pool models and whether the models “have aligned incentives in ownership, management, repair, and provisioning that lead to supply chain efficiency,” the FMC said. The study may result in suggestions to improve “communications, information sharing, and knowledge management practices across chassis pool models,” the commission said.
If Republicans retake control of the House after the midterm elections in November, the chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee will initiate a review of the Bureau of Industry and Security and its export control procedures, said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. McCaul said the review would examine BIS’ progress in restricting emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act and study whether U.S. export control authority should be moved to a different agency.
Panelists at a Sept. 28 Public Forum session held at the World Trade Organization said member nations need to set into motion the implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, the WTO said. The key agreement, reached at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June, bars certain subsidies to protect global fish stocks while committing WTO members to engage in further negotiations on the tenants of the deal.
The Commerce Department on Sept. 29 appointed members to its recently established Industrial Advisory Committee, which will provide the agency with guidance on semiconductor issues as it implements the CHIPS for America Act. The 24 committee members -- including officials from chips firms, car companies and academics -- will provide “advice on the science and technology needs” of the U.S. microelectronics industry. The Semiconductor Industry Association applauded the announcement, saying it’s “critical for government, industry, and academia to work collaboratively to ensure the new funding bridges key gaps in the current semiconductor [research and development] ecosystem.”
Although the current congressional proposal for a new outbound investment screening mechanism faces some hurdles, it could be incorporated into the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said he has concerns with some of the provisions but hopes to work with bill’s sponsors to include some type of outbound screening measure in the fiscal year 2024 defense spending bill, which could be passed this year.