More than three weeks after a top Commerce official said the agency’s first set of proposed controls on emerging technologies would be released within the ”next few weeks,” (see 1910290062) the proposal is still under review. Commerce now hopes to release the proposed controls “in the next couple weeks,” Matt Borman, Commerce deputy undersecretary for export administration, said during a Nov. 20 Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting.
The U.S. will continue sanctioning Venezuela's mining sector and will increase efforts to target countries and foreign groups that support the Nicolas Maduro regime, a top Treasury Department official said.
The Commerce Department has been “slow” to complete a series of export control reviews mandated by the Export Control Reform Act, including the agency’s upcoming controls on emerging and foundational technologies, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said.
The Commerce Department’s decision to renew the temporary general license for Huawei “won't have a substantial impact on Huawei's business either way,” the company said in a Nov. 19 statement. Huawei said the 90-day reprieve (see 1911180036), which authorizes a narrow set of transactions with the U.S. despite Huawei’s placement on the Entity List, “does not change the fact that Huawei continues to be treated unfairly.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross named Cordell Hull deputy undersecretary for industry and security and Joe Semsar the deputy undersecretary at the International Trade Administration, a Commerce spokesperson said Nov. 18. The two were appointed to their positions Nov. 12, the spokesperson said.
The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16, Commerce announced Nov. 18. The renewal -- the license’s second extension (see 1908190039) since it was issued in May -- authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.
Days before the Commerce Department's temporary general license for Huawei is set to expire, the agency and Secretary Wilbur Ross declined to say whether they will extend the license, but said it has been beneficial for U.S. rural communities. Ross suggested that Commerce would like to keep it going.
The Trump administration applauded Brazil’s commitment to implement an annual duty-free tariff rate quota of 750,000 metric tons of wheat imports, saying the move signals a desire to deepen trade ties with the U.S. In a Nov. 14 statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the TRQ will benefit U.S. wheat exporters. It “will allow our wheat exporters to compete on a level playing field,” Lighthizer said. “We look forward to increased exports of American wheat to Brazil.”
China’s decision to lift import restrictions on U.S. poultry is expected to pave the way for more than $1 billion in U.S. poultry exports to China each year, the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Nov. 14. China’s customs agency and Ministry of Agriculture announced on Nov. 14 the country would be lifting the restrictions, according to a report from China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, allowing imports of U.S. poultry products for the first time since the ban began in 2015.
The U.S. should expand export controls against China and study the country’s efforts to dominate emerging technology sectors, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said. In its 2019 annual report, the USCC painted a somewhat grim picture for the prospects of U.S technology competition with China, saying China is committed to maintaining a dominant economic role in trade negotiations and is focused on outpacing the U.S. in the artificial intelligence sector -- a key area of concern for upcoming U.S. export control regimes. To combat this, the commission made several recommendations to Congress to safeguard U.S. technologies, improve foreign market access for U.S. exporters and pre-empt Chinese attempts to undercut U.S. companies and sanctions.