President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will touch on some trade issues during a planned meeting in California on Nov. 15, but the two leaders won’t delve into specifics, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters last week. The two sides aren’t expecting a “long list of outcomes or deliverables” to result from the meeting, the official said. “The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels of communication are open."

The State Department approved a potential $2.53 billion military sale to Romania, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 9. The sale includes M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks” and related equipment, and the principal contractors will be General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems, Leonardo DRS, Honeywell Aerospace, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, L3 Harris, American Apex Corp., Allison Transmissions, Pearson Engineering, Amentum, CAE, Palomar, Boeing, Fibrotex and US Ordnance.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is pushing its annual update conference until next year, the agency announced on its website. The conference was originally scheduled for Nov. 28-30 in Washington but now will be held March 27-29, 2024, BIS said. Existing registrations will remain valid for the new conference dates, but attendees and exhibitors may request refunds.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is seeking public comments on an information collection related to requests for advisory opinions. DDTC said exporters and others can request an advisory opinion from DDTC to determine whether the agency would likely grant a license for the export of a particular defense article or defense service, or to ask DDTC to interpret other requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Public comments are due Dec. 11.

DOJ-Commerce Department Disruptive Technology Strike Force senior officials traveled to Ukraine last week to speak with Ukrainian officials about Russia-related export enforcement and ways the two sides can better share information. The delegation -- which included Matthew Axelrod, Commerce’s top export enforcement official, and Matthew Olsen, the head of DOJ’s National Security Division -- spoke about efforts to “stop the flow of sensitive technologies to aid the Russian war machine,” the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a readout of the meetings.

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Iraq worth about $300 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 2. The sale includes “Bell Helicopter Contracted Logistics Support” and related equipment, and the principal contractor would be Bell Helicopter.

Companies receiving a subpoena from U.S. sanctions and export control agencies should be “careful not to over respond,” which can lead to more questions from the government and potentially an expanded investigation, Torres Trade Law said in an Oct. 31 client alert. Although businesses receiving a subpoena are generally required to respond, the company should first take time to determine why it received the request and have “internal discussions with relevant personnel to gain an understanding of the situation before submitting a response.” It’s “always a good idea to review the scope of an information request and be deliberate in responding within those parameters,” the firm said.

A federal government payment website, Pay.gov, will be offline Nov. 4 from 6 p.m to midnight EST for "system testing and maintenance," the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said. The outage will affect users paying their registration fees during this window. Users should direct questions and concerns to pay.gov customer support at (800) 624-1373, option 2, or pay.gov.clev@clev.frb.org.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is preparing to revamp its website, said Tirrell McKnight, an official with the BIS western regional office. She said the site is in "beta evaluation" and could be launched as soon as January. "We have heard from you all that it's cumbersome and it's dated," McKnight said Oct. 28 during the Pacific Coast Council's Western Cargo Conference, known as Wesccon. "Look for an upgrade to our website relatively soon."

A new executive order on artificial intelligence signed by President Joe Biden this week doesn’t explicitly mention export controls or other trade restrictions, but it does outline the administration's goal of working with other countries to protect against dangerous uses of AI and maintaining U.S. leadership in the technology. The Commerce Department also said the Bureau of Industry and Security, as well as other agency offices, will "be responsible for carrying out a significant portion of the EO’s objectives."