Thea Kendler, President Joe Biden’s choice to be the Bureau of Industry and Security's assistant secretary for export administration, was officially sworn in to her position, BIS said this week. The agency said Kendler will lead Export Administration’s “highly trained technical professionals” in controlling dual-use and military exports, analyzing the impact of those export controls and supporting the U.S. defense industrial base. She also will chair the Advisory Committee on Export Policy, which resolves interagency policy disputes on export license applications submitted to BIS. The Senate confirmed Kendler in December (see 2112150009).
Australia and Canada have met certain investment screening requirements and will remain eligible for the Treasury Department’s foreign excepted state provision, the agency said Jan. 5. Treasury also extended for one year the deadline by which certain U.S. allies must prove that they have a robust foreign investment screening process, which will allow those countries to also qualify for the exemption.
A Canadian practice of reserving at least 85% of dairy quotas for Canadian processors is counter to the USMCA, a panel ruled. The panel's decision was made public Jan. 4. Canada has until Feb. 3 to reform its tariff rate quota allocations. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative noted that from January through October last year, the U.S. exported $478 million worth of dairy products to Canada.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has asked a Ukrainian businessman and his technology company to sell its stake in Texas-based Firefly Aerospace due to national security concerns, Bloomberg reported Dec. 29. CFIUS is concerned that valuable U.S. technology could be transferred from Firefly to Ukraine or Russia via tech entrepreneur Max Polyakov and his firm Noosphere Venture Partners, the report said, and has asked the firm to sell its 50% stake in Firefly. Noosphere told CFIUS it plans to follow through with the request and sell its stake, the report said. Firefly, which develops commercial space launch vehicles, subsequently announced it would pause preparations for its next launch, according to a Dec. 30 report from SpaceNews. Noosphere told Bloomberg that it understands “CFIUS’s actions come amid rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia,” adding that the firm is “working diligently to address CFIUS’s concerns in the most efficient and appropriate manner possible.” Polyakov in 2020 agreed to step down from the company’s board and Firefly’s day-to-day activities “to help make it easier for the company to win U.S. government and military contracts and ease some of the underlying tensions,” Bloomberg said. Firefly, Noosphere and the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Biden administration recently renewed the charter for the president’s Export Council, but it remains unclear if the administration plans to reconvene that advisory committee after years of inactivity. The council is designed to identify and “examine” export issues affecting U.S. industry and “recommend specific solutions to these problems and needs,” according to the most recent version of the charter, which was renewed Nov. 16. The council last met in 2016. The White House didn’t comment.
The Treasury Department’s new “dangerous” humanitarian-related general licenses for Afghanistan lack oversight and could empower the Taliban, said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. McCaul said the licenses are “broad sanctions carveouts” that could “reward, legitimize and enable the same Taliban that took power by force and has shown no interest in abiding by international norms.”
The Defense Department recently issued a document outlining its procedures for reviewing transactions filed with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The 45-page document, issued Dec. 16, “establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and provides procedures for DoD participation” in CFIUS, including its national security investigations, the non-notified transaction process and communication with other committee members.
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The White House is reviewing a draft proclamation about the five-year Harmonized Tariff Schedule update to implement changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a Dec. 20 email to members. "For the WCO HS2022 to be effective, a proclamation from the White House must be published in the Federal Register," the trade group said. "These new tariff changes will then go into effect 30 days following publication. We have learned that a draft proclamation has been provided to the White House for review." CBP recently said the changes wouldn't take effect Jan. 1 and that it planned to continue to use the current HTS until more guidance is given (see 2112170068).
The U.S. will impose “severe economic and financial consequences,” including new sanctions, if Russia further invades Ukraine, a senior administration official told reporters Dec. 17. The comments came days after the G-7 countries and the European Union threatened “massive consequences” against Russia and after the EU said it is working with the U.S. on a new round of coordinated sanctions (see 2112130007). “We are in the process of preparing severe consequences that would result if Russia decides to take the path of further aggression,” the official said, adding that they are “largely” financial measures. “We are prepared to consider a number of things that we had not considered in the past, and the results will be very profound on the Russian Federation.” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., also said the U.S. will likely impose more severe sanctions if Russia pursues more military action in Ukraine. “We certainly need to do what we can to protect Ukraine and let the Russians know that we're not going to accept their aggression,” Cohen, a Helsinki Commission member, said during a Dec. 16 commission hearing. “I think it'd be a mistake for them to go to war, but they may, and we need to be swift to respond with sanctions.” The leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee also said the U.S. should prepare multilateral sanctions against Russia (see 2112130044).