The Commerce Department plans to announce a department-wide national security strategy in the coming weekS to address major priorities and move forward on its mission to “protect, promote and preserve our national security,” according to Deputy Secretary Don Graves. Commerce is playing a greater role in protecting national security than ever before, Mr. Graves said. “New landmark legislation has made it possible for us to meet our major national security challenges head-on – from chips and semiconductors to revitalizing America's industrial base and unleashing technology innovation. And we are looking to sustain and expand that role in the days ahead.” He spoke at the launch of the National Foreign Trade Council’s Alliance for National Security and Competitiveness. The Deputy Secretary offered no details about the upcoming strategy. But he told the gathering that new methods for responding to national security are needed. “At the Department of Commerce, we are focused on national security more than ever. We are investing in our tools today to ensure we’re prepared for whatever challenges we may face in our future national security environment.” Export Controls One of the tools at Commerce’s disposal is the implementation of export controls to ensure that the US private sector’s technological innovation is not diverted to destructive ends that harm US national security while also still allowing for technological innovation to take place domestically. Another key priority is the development of defense partnerships. Mr. Graves pointed to the department’s sharp focus on weakening Russia’s war machine through aggressive export control measures and also business development campaigns to support commercial linkages with Ukraine. US supply chain resilience is a national security imperative for Commerce. The department will convene a diverse array of public and private sector leaders at a Supply Chain Data and Analytics Summit later this year, he said.
In its first material communication since imposing a "pause" on license issuance for firearms exports, Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a collection of information addressing three activities: (1) Import Certificates/End Use Certificates, (2) Delivery Verification, and (3) Firearms Entry Clearance Requirements. This notice is not directed solely at the firearms industry. Import certificate and end user statements are required in other EAR controlled transactions, not just firearms. And the delivery verification process can be used for any transaction under the EAR. It is only the third item that is specifically directed to the firearms trade. "We don’t see this has having a significant impact on our industry," notes Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
WTO members negotiating the accession of Comoros and Timor-Leste on 9 and 11 January, respectively, agreed by consensus, ad referendum, on the terms of the countries' WTO membership, paving the way for the least-developed countries (LDC) to join the organization. With the conclusion of the Working Party’s mandate, the accession package for both states will be submitted to ministers for a formal decision at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi on 26-29 February.
After a much-hailed ministerial meeting in 2022, the world trade body is gearing up for crucial negotiations in Abu Dhabi. Its chief economist talks to Geneva Solutions about the need for reform and dispels alarmist calls to scrap the whole organisation altogether. He received Geneva Solutions at his office nestled on the second floor of the WTO’s headquarters overlooking the lake. Without venturing into rash predictions, he said he didn’t want MC12 to be a “one-time miracle that happened at Lake Geneva, where 164 countries demonstrated that multilateralism is effective”.
Treasury and State announced further sanctions on shipping activities related to the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Russian Military. OFAC also lifted sanctions on a Gulfstream G650 business jet associated with oligarch Suleyman Kerimov. OFAC added four tankers two companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for shipping Iranian commodities on behalf of the network of Iran-based, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal. Earlier in the week OFAC added several entities and indigenous (Ilyushin and Antonov) aircraft complicit in the transfer to Russia and testing of DPRK-origin ballistic missiles by Russia since late November 2023.
The 14th Ministerial-level meeting of the India-United States Trade Policy Forum (TPF) took place on January 12, 2024, in New Delhi, India. Chaired by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, and U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai, the meeting focused on strengthening bilateral trade ties and enhancing economic relations. The Ministers recognized the TPF's role in boosting India-U.S. trade, which likely surpassed $200 billion in 2023, despite global trade challenges. Acknowledging the untapped potential, they expressed a mutual desire to diversify and increase bilateral trade. Significant progress was noted since the 13th TPF, particularly in settling seven long-standing trade disputes at the WTO. These resolutions followed high-level visits between the two countries, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. and U.S. President Biden to India.
The First Quarter Technical Advisory Committees (TAC) meetings begin January 30 with Sensors and Instrumentation The schedule on the BIS website has not been updated and reflects last year's dates and times. Also The President's Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA) and solicits nominations for membership. Nominations for members must be received on or before February 8,.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke at FinCEN headquarters January 8, and the office released a complete set of Frequently Asked Quaestions (FAQs) related to the new Beneficial Ownership reporting requirements. Excerpts of Ms. Yellen's speech below, followed by the FAQs "It’s been an exciting start to the year for FinCEN and for all of us, as the new beneficial ownership reporting requirement went into effect just last week. With this step, we’re closing a loophole and sending a clear message: The United States is not a haven for dirty money. "The benefits of increasing corporate transparency through gathering beneficial ownership information—put simply, knowing who owns what—start with protecting our national security. Information on beneficial ownership will support our law enforcement colleagues in making arrests, prosecuting offenders, and seizing ill-gotten assets. It will also inform strategic, targeted actions, such as sanctions. Corporate transparency can bring economic benefits as well: protecting our financial system, reducing due diligence costs, enabling fair business competition, and increasing tax revenue.
SAP SE (SAP), a publicly traded global software company based in Germany, will pay over $220 million to resolve investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to the SEC complaint, from at least December 2014 through December 2018, SAP employed third-party intermediaries and consultants in various schemes to make improper payments to government officials in order to obtain and retain business in South Africa, Greater Africa (Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana), and Indonesia. Readers may recall SAP’s prior history, which include a non-prosecution agreement from 2021 with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, as well as administrative agreements with the Departments of Commerce and the Treasury relating to Iran-related export law violations, and a resolution in 2016 with the SEC concerning alleged FCPA violations in Panama.
Bringing in a longtime confidant and boldface Washington player as point on trade as his campaign kicks off, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Washington lobbyist Nelson Cunningham as Deputy United States Trade Representative. Senate Finance Committee Chair Wyden said. “Experience representing the interests of multinationals is not the same as considering the views of workers in Toledo and small business owners in Medford. While I’m looking forward to fully vetting this nomination and considering how the Finance Committee will proceed, I would like to see candidates with more diverse and representative experience.”
ASML, a Dutch semiconductor producer, had its license to ship two types of machines that make semiconductors partially revoked. This comes after ASML canceled some of its shipments ahead of tightening Dutch restrictions on exports. "China opposes the US’s overstretching the national security concept and using all sorts of pretexts to coerce other countries into joining its technological blockade against China," said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
PECSEA is seeking private-sector members who are preferably senior executives with strategic authority within their companies and with significant operational control around production, supply chains, research and development activities, and/or international sales and should have an understanding of the impact of export controls on these functions and the broader marketplace.
Agriculture Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor will lead the agribusiness trade mission to New Delhi, India, from April 22-25, 2024. USDA is now accepting …
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The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) federal advisory committee, unanimously passed 12 recommendations on export modernization, rapid response and North American trade during its most recent public meeting. The 2024 Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit, which will be held in Philadelphia March 25 – 28. Registration will open January 10, 2024, at noon Eastern time
This year, the Trade Winds Europe/Eurasia Trade Mission and Business Forum will be hosted in Istanbul, Türkiye from May 13-15, 2024. Led by the International Trade Administration (ITA), Trade Winds is a multi-country trade mission and business development forum that provides U.S. businesses with the expertise of commercial diplomats from over 25 European and Eurasian markets, and connects them with potential business partners across the region.
“We will resume work right after the holidays, with a ‘fish month’ of continuous negotiations taking us to mid-February, when texts for MC13 need to be ready," vowed Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations. At the end of the latest Fish Week in early December, members were unable to reach agreement on additional fisheries subsidies disciplines. Developing nations are wary of a possible loophole that could allow industrialized countries like the European Union, U.S. and China to continue handing out certain subsidies – such as paying cash for access to third countries’ waters – while still adhering, on paper, to an agreed deal.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the appointment of Juan A. Millián as Acting General Counsel, replacing Greta Peisch Mr. Millán most recently served as the Deputy General Counsel for Monitoring and Enforcement in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). From 2005 to 2012, he was Legal Advisor and Senior Legal Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva.
On January 5, Commerce announced the final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of tin mill products from Canada, the People’s Republic of China (China), Germany, the Republic of Korea (Korea), the Netherlands, Taiwan, the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), and the United Kingdom. Commerce also announced the final determination in the accompanying countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of tin mill products from China.
Tibet rights campaigners have welcomed a commitment by Boston-based biotech giant Thermo Fisher Scientific to halt sales of its DNA test kits (“HID”) products to police in occupied Tibet. Thermo Fisher communicated this commitment to shareholders in a letter in December and it took effect on 31 December 2023. The announcement comes after more than a year of campaigning by Tibet groups. The campaign was prompted by reports in 2022 revealing that Chinese police forces in occupied Tibet had been extensively using Thermo Fisher’s HID products, including DNA testing kits and DNA sequencing equipment to carry out a widespread, ethnically-targeted collection of DNA samples from Tibetans.
