The Commerce Department is planning a March 28-30 trade mission to Kenya for “export-ready companies” looking to expand their sales in the region, the agency said in a notice this week. The mission, which will offer an optional stop in Tanzania, will coincide with the American Chamber of Commerce of Kenya’s regional summit, which brings together sister chambers from East African Community member countries. Companies looking to participate in the mission must “certify that the products and services it seeks to export through the mission are either produced in the United States, or, if not, are marketed under the name of a U.S. firm and have at least fifty-one percent U.S. content by value,” among other conditions, Commerce said.

U.S. agricultural exports to China hit record highs during FY 2022, surpassing the previous year’s record with more than $36.4 billion worth of shipments, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said Jan. 6. USDA said higher prices for agricultural goods and “resilient demand” helped increase exports “despite lower volumes for most products.”

Major ocean carrier MSC denied allegations that its demurrage practices violated U.S. shipping regulations, saying a December complaint from U.S. metal trader CCMA lacks “meritorious factual basis.” MSC asked the Federal Maritime Commission to dismiss the complaint.

The Treasury Department plans to meet with “third-party compliance providers” to discuss “current and future” mitigation requirements involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the agency recently posted on its CFIUS landing page. Treasury’s Office of Investment Security said it “will be soliciting” meetings with specific third-party providers. Providers who aren’t solicited but want to discuss mitigation can contact Treasury’s CFIUS Mitigation & Enforcement office at CFIUS@treasury.gov. A Treasury spokesperson didn’t provide more information.

The Federal Maritime Commission denied a Chinese freight forwarder’s motion to dismiss a complaint that said the forwarder delayed 20 container shipments in order to submit higher detention and demurrage invoices (see 2210250021). The FMC’s chief administrative law judge Jan. 4 ordered China-based Shenzhen Unifelix to submit a response to the complaint by Jan. 20, requiring the company to also answer charges levied by U.S.-based Way Interglobal Network that Unifelix tried to change the terms of a signed service contract.

A new office to oversee the State Department’s policies surrounding emerging technologies officially began work this week. The Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, which is headed by Deputy Envoy Seth Center, will “provide a center of expertise and energy” to help the agency develop and coordinate critical and emerging technology foreign policy, the State Department said. This includes engaging U.S. allies on emerging technology issues, including biotechnology, advanced computing, artificial intelligence and quantum information technologies. The office will work in “close coordination with the various bureaus and offices across the Department that are engaging on these and other technology topics that are central to our foreign policy.”

The State Department is seeking public comments on an information collection involving requests to change the end user, end use or destination of hardware and open general licenses. Comments are due Feb. 3.

The recent intervention by the U.S. in a Chinese foreign investment deal further highlights the Biden administration's investment review priorities and the sometimes “complicated” and “time-consuming” nature of those reviews, Vinson & Elkins said in a Dec. 27 client alert.

Companies operating in the biotechnology industry should be increasingly “mindful” of investment filing requirements, especially as the U.S. has “repeatedly emphasized the linkages” between the biotech space and national security, Hogan Lovells said in a December client alert. The law firm specifically pointed to the Biden administration's September executive order on U.S. investment review priorities (see 2209150053), which sent “yet another signal to the biotech sector and its prospective foreign investors that the U.S. Government considers biotech to be an area of critical importance for U.S. national security.”

The Biden administration launched a task force to investigate how U.S. and Western parts, including microelectronics, are being found in Iranian-made drones used by Russia in violation of export controls, CNN reported Dec. 21. The task force includes the Defense, State, Justice, Commerce and Treasury departments, the report said, with one official calling it an “all hands on deck” initiative. Efforts around the task force have recently “intensified” as the U.S. has received intelligence that the Kremlin is looking to open a drone production factory as part of a deal with Iran, the report said. Iran already has begun transferring blueprints for the drones to Russia to aid with the production, the report said. The White House didn’t comment.