White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be meeting with some top Chinese officials March 18, but the trade war will not be front and center, he told reporters at a White House press conference March 12. A reporter asked what China would have to do for the U.S. to reduce or lift tariffs, or loosen export controls. “I don’t expect that, for example, the phase one trade deal is going to be a major topic of conversation next week,” Sullivan said; instead, it will be more about geopolitical issues and human rights, not details on tariffs and export controls. “But we will communicate that the United States is going to take steps, in terms of what we do on technology, to ensure that our technology is not being used in ways that are inimical to our values or adverse to our security. We will communicate that message at a broad level,” he said. He added that before the U.S. can begin negotiating on trade, there's more work to do with allies, “to come up with a common approach, a joint approach, before we go sit down point by point with the Chinese government on these issues.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a Cleveland process controls and instrument manufacturer more than $215,000 for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, OFAC said in a March 15 notice. The company, UniControl, Inc., exported goods to European companies despite knowing they would ultimately be sent to Iran, OFAC said. The agency said the company failed to “act on multiple apparent warning signs.”
Following a review of the European Union's sanctions regime on nine individuals in Egypt, the European Council removed their names from its sanctions list, the EC announced on March 12. The individuals originally were added to the sanctions' regime for their roles in the misappropriation of Egyptian state funds, the EC said. Having been found that their actions warranted their placement on the sanctions list by the council in 2011, the individuals were subject to an asset freeze and forbidden from doing business with EU nationals and legal entities. Following the most recent review, the EC determined the sanctions regime on these nine individuals had served its purpose.
The European Council extended sanctions on those “responsible for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine” for another six months, until Sept. 15, the EC announced March 12. The sanctions include travel restrictions, an asset freeze and a ban on making funds available to listed persons and entities; they apply to 177 individuals and 48 entities.
With large purchase agreements yet to be filled, the European Union extended its vaccine export control regime until the end of June, the European Commission announced March 11. The controls apply only to companies with which the EU has negotiated an advance purchase agreement and require these companies to notify their member state authorities of their intention to export COVID-19 vaccines. To date, only one export of vaccines has been denied, with the EU blocking a shipment of more than 250,000 vaccine doses from British vaccine developer AstraZeneca to Australia (see 2103080006). The EC said it has granted 249 export requests to 31 different countries for a total of over 34 million doses since they did not threaten underlying APAs with the EU.
The U.S. needs to immediately modernize export controls and foreign investment screening mechanisms to counter Chinese technology advancement, a U.S. commission told Congress. The members of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, building off a report it released earlier this month, told lawmakers March 12 that the U.S. is in danger of ceding technology leadership over artificial intelligence if it doesn’t devote more resources to innovation and create a clearer national technology strategy.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published guidance on levying monetary penalties for financial sanctions breaches. The guidance explains HM Treasury's powers in the Policing and Crime Act 2017 that gave the agency the power to levy fines for sanctions violations, summarizes OFSI's compliance approach, provides an overview of the agency's assessment practices, details the process for deciding the level of penalty and explains how businesses or individuals can comply with the fines, including how to pay and appeal them. Penalties and guidelines come into effect April 1.
The Chinese and American semiconductor industry associations will establish a China-U.S. semiconductor working group to streamline information sharing between the two industries, and exchange policies on export controls, supply chain security, encryption and other trade restrictions. The move was announced March 11 on the China Semiconductor Industry Association's website, according to an unofficial translation. The group plans to meet twice a year to address the most pressing issues surrounding semiconductors, including the current global shortage of the key technology, it said. Following the negotiations, each association will appoint 10 member companies to participate in the working group. CSIA is a state-backed association of 774 Chinese semiconductor-related businesses. Its American counterpart is the Semiconductor Industry Association, whose stated mission is lobbying “to strengthen U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research.” Neither group has announced participants for the working group.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold a webinar March 18 on using the Defense Export Control Compliance System licensing application, DDTC said in a March 11 notice, which includes login information. The webinar will cover “key issues brought forward” by DECCS users over the past year, including uploading documents and tracking applications. The webinar will also give a “sneak preview” of upcoming DECCS features.
Nine Republican senators on March 10 reintroduced a bill that they said will make the U.S. more competitive with China and counter illegal Chinese trade practices. The bill, originally introduced last year, would “tackle” Chinese efforts to “distort global markets” and allow U.S. technology companies to better compete with China by “increasing technology collaboration with allies and partners.” The bill also includes several policy statements about export controls and sanctions, and stresses that the U.S. should be “crafting multilateral export control measures” with allies and with multilateral control groups, including the Wassenaar Arrangement. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who helped craft the bill, said the legislation may have bipartisan support. “We are committed to working with our Democratic colleagues to ensure the United States and its allies and partners are prepared for this competition,” he said.