The State Department completed interagency review of a final rule this month that would further reorganize the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule would reorganize ITAR Part 120 to consolidate all definitions and “to organize the definitions in a manner that enhances their clarity and ease of use,” the agency said. The department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in March issued the first in a series of rules expected to reorganize the ITAR (see 2203220013) and sent it for review in November (see 2211160018).
The U.S. should further regionalize its supply chains to reduce dependency on China and other countries in case of future global trade disruptions, some experts said during a virtual conference this week hosted by the Washington International Trade Association. But at least one expert disagreed, saying global supply chains reduce risks, not exacerbate them.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The October through December notices feature defense item and service sales to numerous countries, including Canada, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Austria.
The State Department approved a potential $55 million military sale to Singapore, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 9. The sale includes air-to-ground munitions kits and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Raytheon Missile and Defense, and a portion of defense articles are expected to come from U.S. government stock.
The State Department approved a potential $10 billion military sale to Poland, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 7. The sale includes 18 “M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers” and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin.
The U.S. exported a record $196 billion worth of agricultural goods in FY 2022, hitting new records in export values for shipments to China, Canada, Mexico, Japan and the EU, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a Feb. 6 news release. The top export commodities -- soybeans, corn and beef -- also set records, the agency said. It also said FAS helped to expand potato exports to Mexico, opened a processed meat products market in Israel, addressed “halal concerns to expand exports” to Indonesia and Egypt, and increased ethanol exports to Japan.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis recently announced a mandatory quarterly survey of foreign direct investment in the U.S. The agency will collect the data to “measure the size and economic significance of foreign direct investment in the United States and its impact on the U.S. economy,” BEA said. Reporting is mandatory for each U.S. business in which a foreign person has a “direct and/or indirect ownership interest of at least 10 percent of the voting stock in an incorporated business enterprise, or an equivalent interest in an unincorporated business enterprise, and that meets the additional conditions detailed in Form BE-605.” Reports are due to BEA “30 days after the close of each calendar or fiscal quarter, or 45 days if the report is for the final quarter of the financial reporting year.”
The U.S. Air Force last week said it disagreed with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. determination last year not to intervene in China-based Fufeng Group's purchase of North Dakota farm land (see 2212150035). Although CFIUS concluded it didn’t have jurisdiction, the deal presented “a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,” Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in a letter to Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
U.K.-based biotechnology company F-star Therapeutics and invoX Pharma, a subsidiary of China-based Sino Biopharmaceutical, are working with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. on a potential mitigation agreement for their proposed combination. In a Feb. 1 SEC filing, the parties said they voluntarily withdrew and “immediately refiled” a voluntary notice on Jan. 30 at the request of CFIUS to give them more time to “negotiate the terms of a mitigation agreement and continue discussions” with the committee.
The Commerce Department plans to respond to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., about his letter last week urging the agency to reject an export license application for firearms to Azerbaijan (see 2302030029), a Commerce spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to say whether the agency is considering approving the license but said applications are generally also reviewed by the Defense and State departments to “ensure that potential exports are consistent with national security and foreign policy interests which include, among other considerations, human rights concerns.” This review “continually assesses proposed end users of firearms exports through public and classified information, utilizes a variety of tools to monitor exports, and has a robust administrative and criminal enforcement program to impose penalties for violations of export control requirements for firearms exports,” the spokesperson said.