Sen. George Helmy, D-N.J., said Nov. 8 that he’s consulting with fellow lawmakers to help him decide whether to support a proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to block the sale of more than $20 billion in U.S. military equipment to Israel.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China asked five large semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) firms Nov. 7 to provide data about their China sales, saying the information would help lawmakers better understand the “flow of SME” to the Asian country and its contribution to China’s “rapid buildout of its semiconductor manufacturing industrial base.”
European collaboration with the U.S. on trade-related policies and other issues likely will become more difficult when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, a former Swedish government official said Nov. 7.
Six Democratic and Republican senators urged the Biden administration last week to again designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), citing the Yemen-based group’s attacks on commercial ships, U.S. forces deployed overseas and Israel, and its obstruction of humanitarian aid deliveries to Yemeni civilians.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, urged the Commerce Department Nov. 5 to investigate whether China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) violated U.S. export controls.
Maros Sefcovic of Slovakia, the EU’s candidate for trade and economic security commissioner, said this week he would “double down” on defending European industry against “increasingly widespread” unfair practices.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is being asked to do more to restrict the export of dual-use items but isn’t getting a commensurate increase in funding and personnel, a technology policy expert said last week.
The agendas of both major presidential candidates would provide few incentives for other countries to negotiate new trade agreements with the U.S., a former Commerce Department official said Oct. 31.
Two leaders of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, said last week they welcome the Biden administration’s decision to move forward with giving Ukraine $20 billion in loans that will be repaid with interest generated from frozen Russian central bank assets.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told DOJ this week that she believes its recent settlement with TD Bank does not go far enough to hold the financial firm and its leaders accountable for their lax adherence to anti-money laundering laws.