Members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party continue their effort to challenge diplomats, bureaucrats and captains of industry a quest to bring trade security policy in line with the 24 hour news cycle.   Committee Chair Mike Gallagher’s key take away from his panel’s hearing July 20th  on the Administration’s China policy is that the White House seems unclear on what it means by economic “derisking” from China. “If the core tenet of the Biden strategy toward China is derisking, we have to understand what that means. It’s a little muddy,” he said.

The top US and European Union trade officials had a “direct and candid” discussion yesterday on negotiations to create an agreement governing steel and aluminum trade. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis met in Brussels as the two sides seek to reach agreement on the proposed Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum by October.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase transparency and oversight of foreign ownership in the US agricultural industry. The Farmland Security Act of 2023 builds on the senators’ bipartisan Farmland Security Act of 2022 by ensuring that all foreign investors, including “shell companies,” who buy US agriculture land report their holding.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala apparently received a frosty response from several members, including the United States, to her “modest budget increase of CHF 14.56 million (around $ 15 million) for 2024,” and an additional CHF 1.94 million for 2025, according to our correspondent.

Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis traveled to Luanda, Angola, where she met with government leaders, private sector companies and external stakeholders to highlight EXIM's activity in the region.   She also spoke at the Luanda International Trade Fair. In June, Exim approved a direct loan for more than $900 million to the Ministry of Energy and Water of the Republic of Angola to support the construction of two photovoltaic solar energy power plants.

In a sternly worded letter to CEO Jim Farley of the Ford Motor Company, two of the House’s leading China Hawks lashed into the company’s plans to license Chinese technology for electric vehicle battery production, calling for access to Ford’s business records and correspondence related to the deal.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control designated dozens of entities as Washington continues to apply economic pressure on Moscow for it's invation of Ukraine. The July 20 actions address munitions, metals & mining, finance, energy and aerospace technology interests.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), declared the enforcement of financial penalties against two defense companies,  resolving alleged infractions of the antiboycott regulations of the …

The House approved several amendments related to China and US supply chains in its consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 2670). The House voted on a package that includes …

The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) announced their approval of a 400 million dollar credit guarantee for the trading book of a Swiss commodity trader. Financial Institution Buyer Credit (FIBC) policies backstop credit lines for Geneva – based Trafigura to broker natural gas purchases from the US “primarily to European Buyers,” according to the EXIM announcement.

Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the Select Committee on the CCP, and Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) today unveiled a key piece of legislation that aims to broaden the …

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the U.S. National Intelligence Director (ODNI) have declared the fulfillment of their commitments under President Joe Biden's Executive Order (EO) 14086 regarding the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Since 2020, when the European Court of Justice nullified the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement due to concerns about U.S. government surveillance activities, the U.S. and the EU have been on a quest to establish a new data flow mechanism. This decision unsettled transatlantic data transfers and necessitated a resolution that would ensure enhanced privacy and data protection for EU data subjects. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a press statement that the DOJ's designation of EU member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, as "qualifying states." These designations allow citizens of these nations to seek redress through the proposed Data Protection Review Court, offering enhanced U.S. privacy protections in the process.

As tensions simmer over issues ranging from Mexico's biotech corn and energy policies to Canadian dairy access, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai joined North American trade partners for a summit in Cancun this week. However, the thorny issues were not directly addressed, according to readouts from the meetings.

  The United States outlined its ambitions last week for a "revamped dispute resolution system" within the World Trade Organization (WTO). One of the key tenets includes prohibiting discussions on national security matters during the arbitration process. The US proposal, however, left out any reference to maintaining the current two-tiered system for dispute resolution that includes an Appellate Body as the final arbiter in the WTO's enforcement operations.

The operating practice of trade compliance is bifurcated into customer due diligence (CDD) and managing import and export controls.   CDD involves vetting customers and suppliers using …

Along with sanctions on miners affiliated with th Wagner Group, the U.S. released a multiagency advisory on compliance concerns associated with the Gold Trade. Jointly issued by six Departments - State, Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the advisory had been delayed several days, along with the Wagner Sanctions, to allow the mutiny in Russia to sort itself out.

Mexico last Saturday began imposing a 50% tariff on white corn imports, a move the president says looks to boost national production and prevent imports of genetically modified corn.

India Eyes Joining IPEF Trade Pillar India is contemplating whether to join the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, but the United States is somewhat reluctant to allow New …

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trade Advisory Committee, known as the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), convened in Arlington, Virginia on June 14, 2023. The …

Friday, the EU Council announced the adoption of the eleventh comprehensive package of sanctions, imposing restrictive measures on an additional 71 individuals and 33 entities identified as …