The Commerce Department plans to announce a department-wide national security strategy in the coming weekS to address major priorities and move forward on its mission to “protect, promote and preserve our national security,” according to Deputy Secretary Don Graves. Commerce is playing a greater role in protecting national security than ever before, Mr. Graves said. “New landmark legislation has made it possible for us to meet our major national security challenges head-on – from chips and semiconductors to revitalizing America's industrial base and unleashing technology innovation. And we are looking to sustain and expand that role in the days ahead.” He spoke at the launch of the National Foreign Trade Council’s Alliance for National Security and Competitiveness. The Deputy Secretary offered no details about the upcoming strategy. But he told the gathering that new methods for responding to national security are needed. “At the Department of Commerce, we are focused on national security more than ever. We are investing in our tools today to ensure we’re prepared for whatever challenges we may face in our future national security environment.” Export Controls One of the tools at Commerce’s disposal is the implementation of export controls to ensure that the US private sector’s technological innovation is not diverted to destructive ends that harm US national security while also still allowing for technological innovation to take place domestically. Another key priority is the development of defense partnerships. Mr. Graves pointed to the department’s sharp focus on weakening Russia’s war machine through aggressive export control measures and also business development campaigns to support commercial linkages with Ukraine. US supply chain resilience is a national security imperative for Commerce. The department will convene a diverse array of public and private sector leaders at a Supply Chain Data and Analytics Summit later this year, he said.
PECSEA is seeking private-sector members who are preferably senior executives with strategic authority within their companies and with significant operational control around production, supply chains, research and development activities, and/or international sales and should have an understanding of the impact of export controls on these functions and the broader marketplace.
This year, the Trade Winds Europe/Eurasia Trade Mission and Business Forum will be hosted in Istanbul, Türkiye from May 13-15, 2024. Led by the International Trade Administration (ITA), Trade Winds is a multi-country trade mission and business development forum that provides U.S. businesses with the expertise of commercial diplomats from over 25 European and Eurasian markets, and connects them with potential business partners across the region.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has released the Fifteenth Biennial Report on the Operation of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA). On a biennial basis, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is required to submit a report to Congress regarding the results of the general review of CBI beneficiary countries and their performance under the CBI eligibility criteria.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party kicked off the new year by writing to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, asking for a Chinese wireless company to be blacklisted. Shenzhen-based Quectel manufactures "Internet of Things (IoT)" modules which connect equipment to central control and monitoring systems. Markets include Transportation, Industrial Telematics, and Smart Metering of utilities.
The planned acquisition by Nippon Steel of what used to be America's preeminent steelmaker has stirred up a hornet's nest of jingoism and grandstanding in Washington and the Rust Belt, promising for a contentious review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS). "President Biden welcomes foreign investment that creates new US manufacturing jobs," National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard said. “However, he also believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity – even one from a close ally – appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability,”
The Treasury Department announced it has published public comments received on the draft Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/G20 Inclusive Framework Multilateral Convention to Implement Amount A of Pillar One and accompanying documents. Pillar One aims to tax corporate profits to countries based on customer location, not the entity's legal domicile.
FinCEN has determined entities which will be permitted access to the new centralized register of beneficial ownership being established under the Corporate Transparency Act. FinCEN will permit certain Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials, as well as foreign officials acting through a Federal agency, to obtain BOI, as well as financial institutions with customer due diligence requirements under applicable law to have access to BOI from the new centralized database.
Five Federal trade enforcement agencies issued a " Know Your Cargo" announcement to industry Monday, describing best practices for shippers to comply with the current enforcement regime. The Department of Justice, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued the joint compliance note, advising entities in maritime and transportation industries to implement compliance measures against illicit practices, particularly in high-risk areas and cargo types.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Mexico’s Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Rogelio Ramírez de la O signed a Memorandum of Intent Thursday to affirm the importance of foreign investment screening in protecting national security and express their desire to establish a bilateral working group for regular exchanges of information about how investment screening can best protect national security.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced the Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability will convene a hearing entitled, “Reviewing the Bureau of Industry and Security, Part II: U.S. Export Controls in an Era of Strategic Competition” on Tuesday, December 12th.
The Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, seeks nominations for immediate consideration to fill positions on the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (“The Committee”).
Co-Chairs of the Digital Trade Caucus, led a bipartisan letter with 38 members of Congress urging U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reconsider her agency’s decision to abandon important bipartisan digital trade proposals at the World Trade Organization. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Darin LaHood (R-IL) contend the decision to walk away from key digital trade proposals runs counter to the interests of American workers and businesses, while ceding more leverage to foreign powers, like the People's Republic of China (PRC), to write the rules that will govern the global digital economy for years to come.
In a concerted effort to combat the import of clothing and textiles made with forced labor, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators have urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to intensify oversight and enforcement measures. The Senators addressed their concerns to Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller, highlighting the necessity of enforcing the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The Department of State last week officially announced the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability (ADS), the new name of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. This …
Congress should consider creating a single export licensing system to strengthen export controls on China, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its annual report to Congress released last week. In its report, the commission urged Congress to consider a number of steps to make it more difficult for China to evade US controls. First, the report recommends that Congress hold hearings to evaluate the potential for establishing a single export licensing system.
Assistant Secretary Matthew Axelrod of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security …
The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai, …
The Justice Department prepared an Opinion Procedure Release for an unnamed U.S. company permitting payments to foreign officials despite potential conflict with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's anti-bribery provisions.
President Biden has continued for one year the investment restrictions placed on Chinese securities associated with the PRC's Civil-Military Fusion (CMF) industrial policy. The restrictions include tradeing is securities of Chinese firms in the defense sector, as well as entities deemed controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.