The Senate Banking Committee will hold a nomination hearing April 6 for Paul Rosen, President Joe Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary for investment security at the Treasury Department. Rosen, who would oversee Treasury’s role as the chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., was nominated in March (see 2203090015).

Apple is considering incorporating chips made by Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Bloomberg reported March 30, a Chinese state-owned company that some lawmakers say should be placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity list. Apple is exploring placing YMTC memory chips into its iPhones after one of its key suppliers in Japan, Kioxia Holdings Corp., “lost a batch of output to contamination” in February, the report said. Apple is “keen to diversify its network and offset the risk of further disruption from the pandemic and shipping snarls,” the report said, and is now testing sample NAND flash memory chips made by YMTC.

A new bill introduced in the House would require the administration to study how digital currencies could help Russia evade U.S. sanctions. The legislation, introduced March 31 by Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also would create a new State Department officer to oversee sanctions evasion efforts involving digital currency.

The administration should continue to levy new sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses, including a permanent ban on exports of crowd-control equipment to Hong Kong police, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China said in a report last week.

The House should add stronger sanctions measures to the Russia-related bills recently passed out of the Financial Services Committee (see 2203180021), including more serious capital market and investment penalties, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a March 29 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Senators on the committee that oversees trade pressed U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai repeatedly on why the administration isn't engaged in negotiations with other countries to get them to lower their tariffs, so that U. S.exporters, particularly agricultural producers, can gain more market share. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned the decision to pursue the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework as something other than a traditional free trade agreement.

During a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee March 30, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was asked by many Republicans and a few Democrats why the administration has ruled out cutting tariffs to convince negotiating partners in Asia to open their markets, and why it has shied away from continuing free trade agreement negotiations started during the previous administration.

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee is asking the Biden administration for more information on Russia's ability to use digital currencies to evade sanctions. The director of national intelligence should say whether there are “any indications” Russia is using digital assets to evade sanctions, said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, including whether Russian oligarchs and officials are turning to cryptocurrency.

Sen. John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who serves as his party's top vote-counter, told reporters at the Capitol that a bill to remove permanent normal trade relations status from Russia is stalled in the Senate over one Republican's disagreement on the Magnitsky Act renewal. He said that Democrats are negotiating with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on the language he wants regarding the Magnitsky Act. "They're still trying to negotiate, and hopefully they'll be able to find a path forward, but as of right now, it's hung up, and I don't see that busting loose this week, and next week is the Supreme Court [nomination vote], so it doesn't look like anything's likely to happen on that until after the Easter break."

The Commerce Department should add ZTE to its Entity List now that its five-year probation period and U.S. criminal case has ended, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a March 28 letter to Commerce and Justice departments. Rubio also expressed “disappointment and concern” that a U.S. court this month ruled against further penalties against the Chinese telecommunications company (see 2203240060) despite “credible evidence” that ZTE violated its probation. Rubio said the judge in the case “appeared unconvinced of any serious commitment to reform” by ZTE officials.