TikTok isn’t a national security threat and shouldn’t be subject to a government ban, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Governance Project said in a report this week. The group said all “evidence indicates that TikTok is a commercially motivated enterprise and not a tool of the Chinese state,” adding that the app isn’t “exporting censorship” and the personal data it collects “is very similar to the data collected by its peer competitors.”
Major ocean carrier MSC denied allegations that its demurrage practices violated U.S. shipping regulations, saying a December complaint from U.S. metal trader CCMA lacks “meritorious factual basis.” MSC asked the Federal Maritime Commission to dismiss the complaint.
U.S. agricultural exports to China hit record highs during FY 2022, surpassing the previous year’s record with more than $36.4 billion worth of shipments, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said Jan. 6. USDA said higher prices for agricultural goods and “resilient demand” helped increase exports “despite lower volumes for most products.”
The Treasury Department plans to meet with “third-party compliance providers” to discuss “current and future” mitigation requirements involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the agency recently posted on its CFIUS landing page. Treasury’s Office of Investment Security said it “will be soliciting” meetings with specific third-party providers. Providers who aren’t solicited but want to discuss mitigation can contact Treasury’s CFIUS Mitigation & Enforcement office at CFIUS@treasury.gov. A Treasury spokesperson didn’t provide more information.
The Federal Maritime Commission denied a Chinese freight forwarder’s motion to dismiss a complaint that said the forwarder delayed 20 container shipments in order to submit higher detention and demurrage invoices (see 2210250021). The FMC’s chief administrative law judge Jan. 4 ordered China-based Shenzhen Unifelix to submit a response to the complaint by Jan. 20, requiring the company to also answer charges levied by U.S.-based Way Interglobal Network that Unifelix tried to change the terms of a signed service contract.
A new office to oversee the State Department’s policies surrounding emerging technologies officially began work this week. The Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, which is headed by Deputy Envoy Seth Center, will “provide a center of expertise and energy” to help the agency develop and coordinate critical and emerging technology foreign policy, the State Department said. This includes engaging U.S. allies on emerging technology issues, including biotechnology, advanced computing, artificial intelligence and quantum information technologies. The office will work in “close coordination with the various bureaus and offices across the Department that are engaging on these and other technology topics that are central to our foreign policy.”
The State Department is seeking public comments on an information collection involving requests to change the end user, end use or destination of hardware and open general licenses. Comments are due Feb. 3.
The recent intervention by the U.S. in a Chinese foreign investment deal further highlights the Biden administration's investment review priorities and the sometimes “complicated” and “time-consuming” nature of those reviews, Vinson & Elkins said in a Dec. 27 client alert.
Companies operating in the biotechnology industry should be increasingly “mindful” of investment filing requirements, especially as the U.S. has “repeatedly emphasized the linkages” between the biotech space and national security, Hogan Lovells said in a December client alert. The law firm specifically pointed to the Biden administration's September executive order on U.S. investment review priorities (see 2209150053), which sent “yet another signal to the biotech sector and its prospective foreign investors that the U.S. Government considers biotech to be an area of critical importance for U.S. national security.”
The State Department approved a potential $180 million military sale to Taiwan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Dec. 28. The sale includes “Volcano (vehicle-launched) anti-tank munition-laying systems” and related equipment. The principal contractors will be Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh.