The Trump administration should reverse a planned $20 million funding cut for the Bureau of Industry and Security, which will hamper the agency’s ability to enforce export controls and weaken American technology competitiveness, a tech policy non-profit said this week.

The Bureau of Industry and Security reinstated a pause on export license applications last week, four people with knowledge of the situation said, days after officials announced at the agency’s March update conference that licensing was expected to soon return to normal.

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Four Democratic lawmakers said this week that the Bureau of Industry and Security’s plans to pull back from traditional export control dialogues with allies, including the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, will reduce international collaboration and make it harder to keep sensitive technology out of the hands of China.

The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent semiconductor-related export controls could place large burdens not only on exporters but also on BIS enforcement, which will face a host of challenges trying to track whether certain countries have filled their allocated chip quotas, researchers said.

The U.S. this month arrested and charged a Pakistani-Canadian national with conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls after DOJ said he illegally shipped millions of dollars worth of controlled items to entities in Pakistan, including ones on the Entity List, all while hiding the true end-users from U.S. exporters.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is ending its work in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council as part of a broader effort to pull back from traditional export control dialogues with allies, Jeffrey Kessler, the head of BIS, said in a closed-door meeting with agency officials last week. Kessler also said the agency plans to significantly increase export enforcement against China, warned about possible staffing cuts, urged officials to tamp down on conversations with industry, and said it’s unclear whether existing export controls against Russia will be maintained.

Six Senate Banking Committee Democrats, including ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the Trump administration March 26 to explain how it plans to implement the $20 million funding cut it recently imposed on the Bureau of Industry and Security, including whether it intends to shrink the agency’s workforce.

Technology companies and industry groups mostly supported a January State Department rule that will add items to the U.S. Munitions List and remove other items that no longer warrant control (see 2501160027), although they said new restrictions around autonomous underwater vehicles, radar-related technology and more could cause unintended consequences.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is poised to receive $171 million in funding in FY 2025, down 10.5% from FY 2024, as part of the Trump administration’s “illegal” cuts to national security programs, Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said March 25.