A United Nations report released on Wednesday revealed that Chinese companies and academic institutions own the largest number of patents for generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, from the last decade – six times more than the United States, which placed second.Not only does it make up for nearly 70 per cent of patents, with Tencent, Ping An Insurance and Baidu leading globally, but it has published the highest number of scientific articles on GenAI between 2010 and 2023.

House Republicans’ proposed cuts to the Commerce Department’s fiscal year 2025 budget will undermine the department’s efforts to fight China’s attempts to illegally obtain US …

While Hanoi's red carpet treatement for longtime ally Valdimir Putin spurs consternation in Washington, economic statecraft with the country's largest trading partner continues apace.  Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez met with counterparts at the first-ever 2024 U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) Economic Dialogue in Washington Tuesday

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council precedent, which required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of laws during rulemaking. Friday's decision, made with a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, reduces the authority of executive agencies and raises questions about future regulatory actions across the administrative state..

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a proposed rule to strengthen and modernize financial institutions’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs.  While financial institutions have long maintained AML/CFT programs under existing regulations, Friday's  proposed rule would amend those regulations to explicitly require that such programs be effective, risk-based, and reasonably designed, enabling financial institutions to focus their resources and attention in a manner consistent with their risk profiles. 

The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved a $50 million financing package to small business ESS Inc. under the Make More in America (MMIA) Initiative to finance the construction of several new long-duration battery storage production lines at ESS Tech’s Wilsonville, Oregon facility.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published its first quarterly update of the boycott Requester List. This list notifies companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders, individuals, and other U.S. persons of potential sources of certain boycott-related requests they may receive during the regular course of business. The updated public list of entities who have been identified as having made a boycott-related request in reports received by BIS includes 57 additions. BIS has also removed 127 entities.

After 20 years of lackluster results building commercial vessels for Jones Act trade, Norwegian investment group Aker ASA is selling its Philadelphia shipbuilding operations to Korea's Hanwa Group for $100 million. Philly Shipyard supplies around 50% of the largest U.S. commercial vessels, including tankers and container ships. In addition, Philly Shipyard constructs training vessels for the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).  

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco traveled to Brussels last week to lead the U.S. delegation at the U.S.-EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial. The Joint Statement from the Ministerial noted that both sides focused on addressing irregular migration, with a view to fight migrant smuggling and trafficking networks, building on the call to action of the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling launched in November 2023.

The Treasury Department Friday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement Executive Order 14105 of August 9, 2023, “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern”. The NPRM builds on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by Treasury last August and provides the full draft regulations and explanatory discussion regarding the intent of the proposal, and solicits comment from the public

Just in case you're still depending on a Russian vendor for your cybersecurity, the Commerce Department has banned Kaspersky Labs from directly or indirectly providing anti-virus software and cybersecurity products or services in the United States or to U.S. persons. The Final Determination by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is the first of its kind and is the first Final Determination issued by BIS’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services (OICTS).  

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)  signed a US$500 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. in a ceremony in Port of Spain, Trinidad June 20. The MOU will develop opportunities and support financing in the "maritime domain awareness, cybersecurity, renewable energy, and water sanitation sectors."  In addition, the bank delivered a  $150 million Letter of Interest to finance "maritime vessels and aircraft in support of its maritime operations."

The House of Representatives passed their version of the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act.  The narrow 217 to 199 vote on the normally nonpartisan legislation reflected the last minute addition of a raft of culture war amendments which alienated all but six Democrats.

 Congressional China hawks called for the Commerce Department to include Chinese drones in evolving regulations for connected vehicles.  "With UAVs’ connected software and hardware posing similar national security threats to those of other identified connected vehicles, such transactions present undue and unacceptable risks to U.S. national security," the lawmakers wrote.

After Chinese fast fashion powerhouse pulled its plans to list shares in the US, Congressional bedevilment persists. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, informing him of SHEIN’s reported human-rights abuses and exploitation of trade loopholes and the risks these tactics pose to businesses and investors. The letter urges Hunt to investigate SHEIN thoroughly before allowing the company to list on the London Stock Exchange.  

A renewed urgency has gripped Capitol Hill's China hawks to call for the Chief of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) to report on patents issued to Chinese inventors.    In place since the Carter Administration and renewed every five years, the United States - China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) "is a vector to give the PRC access to U.S. dual-use research and presents a clear national security risk...The Biden Administration must stop fueling our own destruction and allow the STA to expire," the lawmakers write.

At the IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum participants "identified $23 billion of priority infrastructure projects for consideration"  at the inaugural meeting in Singapore June 6. Among the major committments announced were cloud computing, data center and submarine cable projects, India's first battery energy storage system, a carbon capture scheme in Singapore, and several hundred million dollars of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) funding to investment funds in the region.

Congressional Republican China hawks have called for a comprehensive ban on trade and investment dealings with two leading manufacturers of electric vehicle battery systems, Led by the new Chair of the House Select China Committee John Moolenaar (R-MI), the lawmakers wrote letters detailing "shocking new evidence implicating major Chinese battery manufacturers, Gotion and CATL, in Chinese Communist Party state-sponsored slave labor and the ongoing Uyghur genocide." The letters to Mr. Silvers detail supply relationships between the two firms and mineral, metals and labor providers currently under US sanction for their involvement in modern slavery in the Xinjiang Uyghur Region of Western China.

The Five Eyes Security Alliance issued a joint bulletin warning about continued efforts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to recruit current and former Western military personnel to train the PRC military. "The most sought-after targets to-date have been military pilots, flight engineers, and air operations center personnel. The PRC has also targeted technical experts with insight into Western military tactics, techniques, and procedures," according to the bulletin.

In an Opinion piece published in The Financial Times, Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo continued his call for more diligence on the part of allies, industry and the banking community. "It is important to recognise that the success of our sanctions and export controls is only possible because of a partnership with the private sector. Companies have already done a great deal to help us constrain the Kremlin’s access to goods, but we need them to do more." Mr. Adeyemo said he was not faulting U.S. manufacturers and banks as complicit in Russia's efforts to evade sanctions. "Every time I talk to a major CEO, they ask me what more can they do?