The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.
The Commerce Department is still waiting to issue its long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports despite making progress on the effort in recent months, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief for trade outreach and regulations at the Census Bureau.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still discussing how it wants to craft its replacement to the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, an agency official said, as well as preparing to finalize recent rules that reduced licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items and proposed to simplify the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization. The official also said the Trump administration is considering tweaks to export licensing, acknowledging that applications are taking longer than usual.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is planning to soon loosen some export controls on Syria, a move that would align with the Treasury Department’s lifting of certain financial sanctions against the country last month (see 2505230073).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a new regulation that could create a 50%-ownership threshold rule for parties on the Entity List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. is willing to lift export controls over certain semiconductors in exchange for China approving exports of rare earths and other critical minerals, a senior Trump administration official said June 9.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's recently issued advanced chip guidance appears to raise compliance expectations for industry, especially for banks and forwarders that may be indirectly or inadvertently violating export controls on China, lawyers said.
Gas and oil pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners said last week that it has received notice that the Bureau of Industry and Security plans to deny its request to ship ethane to China.
Shippers are continuing to press the Federal Maritime Commission for clarity around which agency should regulate certain rail storage fees imposed by ocean carriers on through bills of lading, saying little progress has been made in recent months, despite urging from the National Shipping Advisory Committee.