The Senate Agriculture Committee this week advanced the nomination of Alexis Taylor, President Joe Biden's nominee to be USDA’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, to the full Senate (see 2205160011). During her nomination hearing, Taylor said she expects U.S. agricultural traders to have “huge opportunities” in the Indo-Pacific. She said they should prepare for expanded market access (see 2209230028).
Although President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on foreign direct investment isn’t expected to significantly change review outcomes, it sends a clear signal to industry about the U.S.’s FDI priorities and could help companies better understand whether they should submit a voluntary filing, law firms said this month. One firm said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. may use the order as further reason to reach out to businesses about non-notified transactions.
The Biden administration and TikTok drafted a “preliminary” agreement to resolve national security concerns raised by ByteDance, the app’s Chinese owner, but face “hurdles” before the agreement can be finalized, The New York Times reported Sept. 26. Under the draft deal, which will need to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., TikTok would restructure its “data security and governance” but would not be required to divest itself from ByteDance, the report said. Multiple agencies are skeptical the agreement will sufficiently address the U.S.’s national security concerns, the report said, which “could force changes to the terms and drag out a final resolution for months.”
The Sept. 22 meeting of World Trade Organization's Committee on Regional Trade Agreements focused on five RTAs, the WTO said. South Korea's Taeho Lee, the committee's chair, called on members to ramp up efforts to provide outstanding data and comments for presentations of RTAs and to look into how the committee's work could be improved as part of efforts to reform the WTO.
U.S. agricultural exporters have “huge opportunities” in the Indo-Pacific and should prepare for expanded market access soon, said Alexis Taylor, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the USDA’s Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs undersecretary (see 2205160011). Taylor, speaking during a nomination hearing last week, said she hopes to work closely with other agencies on “trade parties” within the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (see 2209190077) if she is confirmed.
Made in China 2025, China's public document of its ambitions for technology dominance, came out of Chinese officials' anxiety about their tech vulnerability due to integration of U.S. and Chinese supply chains, panelists said during a Peterson Institute for International Economics webcast Sept. 23 featuring PIIE scholars and an expert on China's foreign economic policy from the University of Maryland, Margaret Pearson.
Adam Goldberg, former partner at Simpson Thacher in Hong Kong, has joined Pillsbury Winthrop as a litigation partner in San Francisco, the firm announced. Goldberg's practice will center around issues relating to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, commercial bribery, violations of U.S. and Hong Kong securities laws, embezzlement and U.S. sanctions, the firm said. He also advises clients across a host of industries on matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., sanctions and export controls compliance. Much of his current practice, and practice at Simpson Thacher, revolves around China, though he has experience advising on matters involving South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, the firm said.
The World Trade Organization held phase two of its Advanced Agriculture Notification Workshop Sept. 13-16 to help members fulfill their agricultural notification obligations under the Agriculture Agreement, the WTO said. The meetings covered issues involving market access and the implementation of the Bali Decision on tariff quota administration and the Committee on Agriculture's Review Process.
The House this week passed the Russia Cryptocurrency Transparency Act with several sanctions provisions, including one to require the State and Treasury departments to assess how digital currencies are affecting the “effectiveness and enforcement” of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The agencies would also be required to submit to Congress recommendations for “new legislative and regulatory measures” to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to stop digital currencies being used for sanctions evasion.
A technical advisory committee may ask the Bureau of Industry and Security to allow quarterly filings in the Automated Export System for certain exports to China, Russia and Venezuela. The change could make certain AES filings more efficient, members of the Transportation and Related Equipment Technical Advisory committee said during a Sept. 21 meeting.