The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. approved Singapore investment firm GIC's minority investment purchase of a subsidiary of Duke Energy, a U.S. energy holding company, Duke Energy said Sept. 8. Under the deal, GIC will acquire a nearly 20% indirect minority interest in Duke Energy Indiana for $2.05 billion.
President Joe Biden will nominate Reta Jo Lewis, a former State Department official and corporate lawyer, for president and chair of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., the White House announced this week. At the State Department, Lewis served as the first special representative for global intergovernmental affairs under the Obama administration, where she led efforts to build “strategic relationships” between the U.S. and foreign counterparts. Lewis is currently the congressional affairs director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Alan Estevez, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2107130004 and 2104070026), will appear before the Senate on Sept. 21 for his nomination hearing, a congressional aide said Sept. 14. Also scheduled that day is Thea Kendler, nominee for assistant secretary of commerce for export administration (see 2107280063), the aide said. The two will testify before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which posted notice of the hearing late on Sept. 14.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says that although his initial list of pay-fors did not include any taxes on tobacco, he thinks the House Ways and Means Committee proposal is worthy of being included on what he called "a menu of options" to give Democratic senators choices. "I happen to think that this is an important idea, they're talking, I gather, at e-cigarettes," he said during a Capitol hallway interview.
The Census Bureau hopes to soon announce a final decision on whether it will eliminate export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, an issue it has considered for months as officials have searched for alternative sources to collect the export data (see 2104230025). But the agency hasn't been able to find a legitimate substitute for the data and seems unlikely to eliminate the restrictions, especially over strong objections by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Richard Sofield has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner in its National Security and International Trade practice in Washington, the firm said. Sofield joins from Wiley Rein, where he led the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. practice group, focusing on cross-border investment and national security matters, the firm said. For 24 years before joining Wiley Rein, Sofield worked as a government attorney, including as director of the foreign investment review staff for the National Security Division at the Department of Justice. Overseeing DOJ's participation in CFIUS, Sofield reviewed more than 1,000 acquisitions for national security purposes, the firm said.
The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry took a hard line on a letter that 13 House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans sent Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last week seeking information on reports that U.S. officials approved licensing applications for Huawei to buy U.S. semiconductors for China’s next-generation autonomous vehicles. The GOP members asked Buttigieg to respond by Sept. 23 to a dozen questions about the reports, including whether he’s concerned that Huawei is looking for a U.S. “foothold” to steal information on Americans and gather intelligence on the U.S. “transportation infrastructure.”
The Federal Maritime Commission announced the 24 members of its newly formed Shipper Advisory Committee, which will advise FMC on issues in the ocean freight delivery system (see 2106080005). The group -- which includes representatives from Walmart, Target, Ikea, Tyson Foods and Brenntag -- is composed evenly of importers and exporters, the commission said Sept. 9. Members will serve until Dec. 31, 2024. FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said the shipper committee will give the FMC “rapid access to the perspectives of importers and exporters on the ground dealing with the realities of ocean shipping every day,” adding that their perspective will be “invaluable.”
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security misrepresented facts in front of a congressional commission last week (see 2109080062), saying he wasn't straightforward about the agency’s “delayed and incomplete” provision of export licensing decisions to Congress. Although BIS Acting Undersecretary Jeremy Pelter told the commission that BIS has complied with all laws regarding the disclosure of licensing information to Congress, Rep. Michael McCaul said the agency hasn’t been transparent.
The Treasury Department should maintain and potentially expand sanctions on the Taliban and third-party entities that support them as the group takes over the Afghan government, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote in a recent letter to Secretary Janet Yellen. “We urge you and the rest of the Biden Administration to maintain a very healthy dose of skepticism about what the Taliban’s intentions and abilities are,” said the letter, signed by more than 15 members, including Michael McCaul of Texas, the committee’s top Republican. “We must maintain what leverage this administration has left to not only secure the evacuation of our citizens, allies, and Afghan partners from the clutches of a terrorist group, but to prevent another atrocity on American shores like the tragic attacks on 9/11.” The members added that “it is imperative that no sanctions against the Taliban are lifted to ensure our national security and the security of our citizens and partners is protected.”