The Transportation and Related Equipment Technical Advisory Committee has worked with the Commerce and Defense departments on several Wassenaar Arrangement proposals, some of which are nearly ready for interagency review and others that are scheduled for proposal at Wassenaar next year. The proposals involve space-related technologies, compressors, industrial gas turbines and commercial supersonic engines, said Ari Novis, chair of the committee and director of international trade compliance for Pratt & Whitney.
The Bureau of Industry and Security updated its Entity List by adding 22 entities, updating one entry and removing three entries, BIS said. The added entities include freight forwarding and logistics companies and a medical instrument supplier.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. did not agree to lift tariffs on China as part of the first phase of the trade deal, contradicting comments from China’s commerce ministry. “They'd like to have a rollback,” Trump told reporters Nov. 8. “I haven't agreed to anything,”
The Trump administration completed its review of its final rule to move export controls of firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department, clearing the way for the regulatory changes to potentially be completed this year.
China and U.S. agreed to lift tariffs in stages as they progress in trade talks, China’s Ministry of Commerce said during a Nov. 7 press conference. “If the two parties reach the first phase agreement, they should cancel the tariffs that have been imposed according to the content of the agreement,” a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said, according to an unofficial translation. “The trade war starts with the addition of tariffs and should also be terminated by the elimination of tariffs.” The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not comment.
A Florida-based aviation investment management company was fined about $210,000 after it committed 12 violations of U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Nov. 7 notice. The company, Apollo Aviation Group, which has since been bought by The Carlyle Group and is now Carlyle Aviation Partners, committed the violations in transactions involving the lease of three aircraft engines, the notice said. Apollo allegedly leased the engines to a United Arab Emirates company, which subleased the engines to a Ukrainian airline, which installed the engines on an aircraft wet leased to Sudan Airways.
Companies and trade groups are concerned about the consequences of the Commerce Department’s efforts to restrict sales of emerging technologies and are growing impatient with a delay that has stretched several months, stakeholders said in interviews. Nearly a year after Commerce issued advance notice that they planned to review the technologies, some companies are confused about the delay and fear the controls won’t be fully coordinated with U.S. allies, causing their customers to simply seek foreign sellers.
The State Department plans to publish its guidance for exports of surveillance technology by early January and will make several changes based on industry comments, officials said. Changes include the elimination of a “kill switch” suggestion and an effort to revise the definition for “surveillance,” which some companies complained was too broad.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and issued Venezuela-related general licenses and revoked two Turkey general licenses, according to a Nov. 5 notice. OFAC also published new and amended frequently asked questions to explain the Venezuela-related licenses.
The Commerce Department’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on foundational technologies will ask for public comments on the relationship between foundational and emerging technologies, a concept that is challenging Commerce, according to Commerce’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration Matt Borman. The proposal, which is expected to be released this fall, is proving more challenging than the proposed ANPRM on emerging technologies the agency released last year, Borman said. The foundational notice will ask industries whether emerging and foundational technologies are really “two distinct things,” Borman said, or whether one depends on the other, such as whether foundational technologies are used to create emerging technologies.