The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the administration could initiate another Section 301 investigation into China's practices in strategic sectors. It said the sources didn't say which sectors, but said there could also be tighter export controls, with greater cooperation with European and Asian allies on subsidies, and that the administration might increase scrutiny of U.S. companies' investments in China. The article said that a Section 301 investigation has been bandied about for months, but that it has new momentum since the talks to build on the Trump administration's phase one trade agreement have been fruitless. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House press office didn't respond to requests for comment.

As part of the U.S.’s new Russian export controls (see 2202240069), the State Department will deny licenses or approvals for a range of defense-related exports and brokering activities associated with sales to Ukraine's Donetsk or Luhansk regions. The measures, outlined by the agency’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls Feb. 25, will place new restrictions on exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports of defense articles or defense services listed on the U.S. Munitions List. Certain exemptions will apply to exports and transfers related to the “official business” of the U.S. government, DDTC said, including some activities by government employees, grantees or contractors. The agency urged exporters, “particularly those conducting business in the region,” to continue to monitor its website for policy updates or changes.

The Senate should move forward with the confirmation of Alan Estevez, who was nominated last summer to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security, said Kevin Wolf, former assistant secretary for export administration, in a LinkedIn post. "BIS is advancing significant national security objectives in novel and complex ways," said Wolf, who is now a lawyer at Akin Gump. "It needs Alan Estevez in as its Under Secretary now. Seriously. Whatever issues are holding up his confirmation need to be set aside today so that he can get to work at BIS." Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has voiced some reservations over Estevez's stance on gun export controls (see 2201050023 and 2110050029).

The Bureau of Industry and Security will look for ways to improve its administrative enforcement efforts and the voluntary self-disclosure program in the coming year, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said while speaking to the Silverado Policy Accelerator on Feb. 24. Under the administrative enforcement review, BIS will consider how often it uses its no admit/no deny resolutions to help deterrence and accountability, he said. The bureau will also review how it "calibrates" penalties and will explore additional or expanded penalties for items that harm national security even if the transaction value is low. It will also review how often, and in what cases, administrative resolutions should continue in parallel with criminal resolutions by DOJ.

The Bureau of Industry and Security’s reorganization and clarification of its foreign direct product rules this month (see 2202020021) could allow the administration to more easily use the rule to target specific Russian sectors if Russia invades Ukraine (see 2202150043), Akin Gump said in a February alert. The law firm outlined how companies can examine recent BIS changes to the FDP rule as a “guide for analyses of the scope and impact of possible” new Russia controls, and how certain changes to the Export Administration Regulations would affect various exports to Russia. Companies should examine whether their foreign-produced items contain certain levels of U.S. origin content, Akin Gump said, and whether they would have to comply with new licensing restrictions if Russia were moved to a different EAR Country Group.

The Commerce Department should add more Chinese companies to the Entity List, better restrict China’s government organizations and target the country with unilateral controls when appropriate, China Tech Threat said this week. The organization, which is run by Strand Consult and advocates for stronger export controls on China, said Commerce should add China semiconductor companies Yangtze Memory Technologies and Changxin Memory Technologies to the Entity List and tailor export controls to better target Chinese “pseudo-government organizations.” Commerce should also “prioritize” unilateral controls on American semiconductor manufacturing equipment by employing a “control-now-cooperate-later” approach, China Tech Threat said.

The Commerce Department should expand an exemption to allow U.S. companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List (see 2006160035), the Information Technology Industry Council said in a set of recommendations to the Biden administration. If the exemption isn’t expanded, the U.S. will risk ceding further “ground, influence, and leadership to foreign competitors” in international technology standards development, ITI said Feb. 10.

WuXi Biologics, one of China’s largest biotechnology companies, said it complies with all U.S. export control regulations despite the Commerce Department’s decision to add two of its subsidiaries to the Unverified List this week (see 2202070012). The company said it has been approved to import U.S. export-controlled “hardware controllers for bioreactors and certain hollow fiber filters” for 10 years. “We do not re-export or resell these items to any other entity,” WuXi said Feb. 8 in a statement.

Companies could face a variety of compliance challenges if the U.S. expands its foreign direct product rule to capture exports to Russia, Cooley's Annie Froehlich, an export control lawyer, said in a Feb. 3 Atlantic Council blog post. The U.S. has reportedly considered using the rule if Russia further invades Ukraine, which could limit Russia’s ability to import certain foreign-produced chips, integrated circuits and microprocessors, the post said. “If regulatory actions are imposed, assessing exposure and implementing appropriate compliance responses will be challenging.”

Crowell & Moring has seen “mixed results” and some longer response times from the Bureau of Industry and Security for license applications captured by the agency’s military end-use and end-user rule, said Brian McGrath, a trade lawyer with the firm. But overall, McGrath said the agency has been helpful when responding to exporter questions about the rule, which imposed more due-diligence requirements on shipments that could be sent to military end users or used for military end uses in certain countries (see 2102190042).