The agency responsible for U.S. financial sanctions lost a record number of employees last year, a trend former officials and industry lawyers say has led to longer processing times and an influx of new officials.
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could potentially transform trade on the continent and bring it into global supply and value chains, but key parts of the deal remain unfinished, and infrastructure investment will be necessary to tap the agreement’s potential, panelists said on an Oct. 28 webinar hosted by law firm Squire Patton.
A pair of U.S. and South African weapon sellers failed to show that the State Department illegally debarred them from exporting goods, a U.S. court said Oct. 26. The court’s decision stemmed from a lawsuit filed by U.S. weapons exporter Robert Thorne and South African gun reseller Dave Sheer and his businesses, who said they were “de facto debarred” from trading weapons by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls despite not being placed on a debarment list.
The Bureau of Industry and Security revised its license review policy for items controlled for national security reasons and destined for China, Venezuela and Russia (see 2010230007), the agency said in a final rule released Oct. 28. The rule, which takes effect Oct. 29, said BIS and other “reviewing agencies” will determine whether those exports will make a “material contribution” to the weapons systems of the countries before approving the shipments.
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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is placing more of an emphasis on enforcement and outreach after the committee’s jurisdiction was expanded earlier this year, trade lawyers said. The lawyers also said they are noticing more transactions being notified to CFIUS, especially those that involve personal data and critical technologies.
China has met 71% of its 2020 purchase goals for U.S. agricultural commodities under the phase one trade deal, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an “interim report.” The Oct. 23 report, released 11 days before the election, said the U.S. is on track for its “best year ever in sales to China.”
CBP and industry had very little time to react to an executive order earlier this year that authorized export restrictions on certain medical equipment (see 2004080018) and had to scramble to adjust to new protocols, said Paulette Kolba, an export compliance consultant. Kolba, speaking during an Oct. 23 session of the Western Cargo Conference, said the abrupt restrictions were representative of a challenging year for export compliance professionals, who have had to deal with a range of regulatory changes and new compliance requirements.
The U.S. should sign a trade deal with Taiwan and increase cooperation on export controls, similar to U.S. partnerships with Japan and Australia, Asia experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said. Increased collaboration with Taiwan has strong support from Congress and the Taiwanese government, the experts said, and would make sense as the U.S. welcomes manufacturing and investment from Taiwan.
In a think tank effort that seems to assume a change in Washington, though never explicitly says it, the Peterson Institute for International Economics says there should be a return to more conservative use of export controls and entity lists to manage the threat of Chinese access to advanced technology for nefarious purposes. Martin Chorzempa, a PIIE research fellow, discussed a memo he authored to a future Commerce undersecretary for export controls in the next administration, during an Oct. 22 webinar at PIIE.