After members of Congress were blindsided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative backing away from digital trade advocacy, they are taking no chances in spelling out their desire that the agency push for a continued moratorium on tariffs on digital goods. The World Trade Organization has renewed that moratorium since 1998, but some member countries want to start collecting duties on the sale of streaming movies, software as a service, and more.
The Treasury Department declined a request by the two leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to impose Global Magnitsky sanctions against leading Chinese surveillance company Hikvision for human rights violations, Chair Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said this week.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has asked the Smithsonian Institution to provide more information about its bird genetics research partnership with China-based Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), saying he’s concerned about BGI’s ties to its country’s military and what he calls its aggressive data collection activities.
The House and the Senate have agreed to temporarily fund the federal government through March 1 or March 8, depending on the agency. The continuing resolution in place now ends, for some agencies, on Jan. 19. The two chambers still need to vote on the legislation to extend funding beyond the end of this week.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., urged USDA and the Treasury Department to review how Chinese businessman Chen Tianqiao was able to buy almost 200,000 acres of Oregon farmland in 2015 without disclosing the purchase to the federal government.
Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., called on two key members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to prevent Cnano Technology USA, a subsidiary of China-based Cnano Jiangsu Technology Co. Ltd., from opening a manufacturing plant for electric vehicle battery parts in Johnson County, Kansas.
The House on Jan. 12 passed a bill aimed at helping the Treasury Department find terrorists, Russian oligarchs and corrupt government officials.
The House Select Committee on China has sent letters to the chief executives of U.S. chipmakers Intel, Nvidia and Micron Technology asking them to testify before the panel about the challenges their industry faces, a person close to the committee said Jan. 12, confirming a Financial Times report. A hearing date has not yet been determined, the person said.
Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Tim Kaine of Virginia announced Jan. 9 that they plan to oppose a provision in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2024 supplemental appropriations request that would waive congressional oversight requirements for U.S. funding provided to Israel under the Foreign Military Financing program.
Republican Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced on Jan. 11 a bill that would impose economic sanctions on Nicaragua’s government for human rights violations, including the persecution of clergy and political dissidents and the forced exile of thousands of people.