The Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration will hold a public meeting of the President's Export Council June 29 after years of inactivity. The council, which hasn’t met since 2016 but whose charter President Joe Biden recently renewed (see 2201030053), will discuss the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and “strengthening U.S. leadership in technology and innovation,” the ITA said in a June 15 notice. The meeting will be broadcast via live webcast on the internet. The council is accepting public written comments through 5 p.m. EDT June 27.
The State Department approved a potential military sale to the Netherlands worth about $611 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The sale includes "MQ-9A Block 5 aircraft" and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems.
Export compliance professionals stressed the importance of restricted party screening, telling this week's American Association of Exporters and Importers’ annual conference the screening process has become even more pivotal as the pace of new U.S. sanctions and export controls increases. Karen Wyman, who heads the trade compliance division at thermal imaging company Teledyne FLIR, said part of that effort is ensuring screening lists are constantly up to date.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said advocates for free trade agreements who argue that 95% of customers are outside our borders are myopic.
The State Department approved a potential $48.2 million military sale to Spain, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said June 14. The sale includes “M982A1 Excalibur tactical projectiles” and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Raytheon.
The U.S. wants to expand investigations into illegal firearms trafficking and better hold traffickers accountable as part of an effort to curb illegal gun exports to Mexico, the White House said in a fact sheet this week. As part of that effort, DOJ is using new criminal authorities in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enacted last year, which makes it a federal crime to “act as straw purchaser of firearms intended for unlawful use.” The White House also stressed the importance of CBP’s anti-smuggling operations at ports of entry along the southwest border, including its “numerous robust outbound operations.” ICE and Homeland Security Investigations have seized nearly 1,000 guns and gun parts and more than 125,000 rounds of ammunition so far this fiscal year.
The State Department approved two potential military sales, to Kuwait and France, worth nearly $2 billion combined, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said June 13. The sale to Kuwait includes $1.8 billion worth of contractor engineering technical services and contractor maintenance services, and the principal contractors will be Sigmatech; Kay and Associates; Kellogg Brown, and Root; L3 Technologies; Boeing; General Electric; Industrial Financial Services; and Lockheed Martin. The sale to France includes $160 million worth of “E-2C Hawkeye sustainment items and services,” and the principal contractor will be Northrop Grumman.
Considerations surrounding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. “should be baked into deal planning as early as possible,” especially as CFIUS scrutiny on Chinese investments is “not expected to ease any time soon,” Kilpatrick Townsend said in a June client alert. The firm said compliance officers whose company is pondering foreign investment from China need “to involve your regulatory teams as soon as possible” so the company can “identify the challenges likely to surface during the CFIUS process.”
Major shipping line Maersk is mulling whether to appeal a recent order by the Federal Maritime Commission that fined its subsidiary, Hamburg Sud, nearly $10 million for violating the Shipping Act’s anti-retaliation provision and refusing to fulfill contract terms (see 2306080062), a spokesperson said. “We are reviewing the decision and considering next steps,” the person said in a June 9 email.
Countries in the Five Eyes Alliance, plus Japan, have issued a joint declaration on non-market practices and trade related economic coercion that they say "undermine the functioning of and confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system by distorting trade, investment, and competition and harming relations between countries."