The Bureau of Industry and Security is conducting a review of the types of semiconductors and chipmaking equipment that can be exported to China to determine whether it needs to tighten those restrictions, BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said, speaking during a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week. He said the agency is considering tightening the “cut-off point” of semiconductors that are subject to strict export licensing requirements.
A potential provision in the bipartisan China package (see 2207120049) that would create an outbound investment screening mechanism received more opposition (see 2206280051 and 2201140038) this week, including from lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee and former U.S. investment screening officials. While opponents of the provision say some form of outbound screening may eventually be necessary to further restrict sensitive technology transfers to China, they also said the current wording is too broad and leaves too many questions unanswered.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who is a key decisionmaker on what to bring to the House floor, rejected out of hand the Senate minority leader's proposal to bring the Senate China competition bill up for a vote, since negotiations between the House of Representatives and the Senate have stalled.
Stephenie Gosnell Handler, former director for cybersecurity strategy and digital acceleration at McKinsey, has rejoined Gibson Dunn as a partner and member of the International Trade and the Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Innovation practice groups, the firm announced. Handler's practice will center on Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. proceedings, export controls, sanctions, national security, cybersecurity, data and technology, the firm said. At McKinsey, she advised the company's leadership on cybersecurity, technology and data trends. She previously worked as an associate at Gibson Dunn from 2011 to 2015.
Republicans who are in the China package negotiations say that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's tweet that said that moving even a smaller Build Back Better bill would halt negotiations was not an empty threat. He had said that while Congress was away from Washington, at the beginning of the month (see 2207010039).
It’s unclear whether the Bureau of Industry and Security's decision to stop differentiating between emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2205200017) will have any real impact on export controls, law firms said. Torres Trade Law said this month that “only time will tell” if the change allows BIS to impose the controls more quickly, but companies should closely monitor the pace of upcoming restrictions, especially if they’re dealing in “cutting-edge technologies.”
China will officially begin security reviews for certain data exports Sept. 1, Reuters reported July 7, allowing China to regulate how its companies can send the information overseas. The reviews could capture past transactions conducted by a range of firms, including any entities that have sent personal information overseas belonging to 100,000 or more users, or “sensitive" personal information of 10,000 or more users, since Jan. 1, 2021, the report said.
Five Republican senators, only one of whom voted for the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), are asking that Senate conferees drop the directive to reopen a Section 301 exclusion process, and add a number of trade provisions only found in the House China package. Some House proposals that Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ala., Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Florida's two senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, both Republicans, want to include:
The U.K. added seven new entries to its Russia sanctions list while imposing new trade restrictions on Belarus in response to the continued invasion of Ukraine.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted for the Senate's China package last year, publicly threw a wrench into the already difficult negotiations to hash out a compromise between the House and Senate approaches to investing in America and competing with China.