Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for Jan. 25-29 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Thomas Vilsack, President Joe Biden’s nominee for agriculture secretary, said the agency will prioritize foreign market access for U.S. exporters and secure more trade agreements centered around agriculture. But Vilsack also said increasing competitiveness for U.S. exporters will be challenging, particularly because of the lasting impacts of the Trump administration's unpredictable trade policy.
The U.S. is reviewing its sanctions authorities to impose restrictions on Myanmar officials following a coup by the country’s military earlier this week, a State Department official said Feb. 2. The agency is considering sanctioning the country's military, including senior military officials, and is working with other countries in the region to impose similar restrictions, the official said. “We will take action against those responsible, including through a careful review of our current sanctions posture,” the official told reporters, adding that the sanctions could also target companies with ties to Myanmar’s military.
Princeton University was fined $54,000 and ordered to audit its export control compliance program after committing 37 U.S. export violations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Feb. 1 order. BIS said the university illegally exported “various strains and recombinants” of an animal pathogen, which were controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, to overseas research institutions without the required BIS licenses.
A Chinese consumer electronics company asked a federal U.S. court to block the Treasury and Defense departments from imposing restrictions on the company after it said it was falsely labeled as having ties to the Chinese military. In a Jan. 29 lawsuit, Beijing-based Xiaomi Corp. said its designation as a Chinese military company by both agencies had no “factual basis,” adding that it could face “irreparable harm” from the designation.
The European Union wants to work more closely with the U.S. on sanctions and technology issues and is hoping to establish an international trade and technology council to regulate emerging technologies, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. Speaking during a Feb. 1 event hosted by the German Marshall Fund, Dombrovskis also called for more EU-U.S. unity on a range of other topics, including reform at the World Trade Organization and measures to counter illegal Chinese trade practices. “This is precisely why we need to put our current trade disputes behind us,” Dombrovskis said, referencing the Boeing/Airbus dispute and U.S. Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum (see 2101270049).
Electronic Export Information requirements for Puerto Rico treat the territory like a foreign country, unnecessarily burden U.S. shippers and go against the wishes of the Puerto Rican people and government, said Mike Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America. Speaking on a Jan. 28 call hosted by a Commerce Department advisory committee, Mullen said the EAA spoke with a member of President Joe Biden's transition team in early January about eliminating the filing requirements.
More foreign investors are opting to submit a filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. out of an abundance of caution, even when there is no mandatory filing requirement, George Grammas, a trade lawyer with Squire Patton, said. Grammas said “sophisticated” investors are especially likely to file before the investment is complete, particularly as CFIUS continues a trend of reviewing years-old investments.
Economics Professor Mary Lovely, who studies multinationals' operations in China, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that the trade war didn't make the U.S. less reliant on China, and that export controls designed to isolate China have not been effective, either. She noted that China is still the top exporter to the U.S., and their goods make up 17% of U.S. imports. The Commission met online Jan. 28.
The U.S.’s decision to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and rescind Iranian sanctions would be complex and time-consuming, likely taking months of bureaucratic work and negotiations, sanctions and Iran experts said. The new President Joe Biden administration has a range of Iranian-related sanctions issues to tackle before rejoining the agreement, the experts said, such as which Iranian entities and officials to de-list, whether to endorse Europe’s INSTEX and how to address humanitarian exports to Iran.