The State Department Oct. 4 authorized another drawdown of $625 million worth of U.S. arms and defense equipment to Ukraine. The package includes weapons, munitions and equipment from Defense Department inventories, the agency said, and brings total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to $17.5 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.
SK ecoplant Co., a South Korean construction engineering firm, recently received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to acquire U.S.-based Bloom Energy, Squire Patton Boggs said in a post this week. The acquisition was valued at $500 million, the post said.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission recently issued an updated table of Chinese companies listed on the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and the NYSE American. As of Sept. 30, 262 Chinese companies worth a "total market capitalization" of $775 billion were listed on those U.S. exchanges. The commission said the number represents a more than "half-trillion-dollar drop in the market capitalization of U.S.-listed Chinese firms" since June, "owing primarily to several major national-level state-owned enterprises (SOEs) delisting in August 2022."
The State Department completed another round of interagency review for a final rule that would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule -- which was initially sent for review Sept. 6 (see 2209120001) and completed Sept. 14 (see 2209150009) with a change -- was again sent for review and completed on Oct. 4 after changes were made to the rule. The rulemaking would make revisions to “prohibited exports, imports, and sales to or from certain countries.”
U.S. agricultural exports to Taiwan remain promising due to continued demand for “western-style food options,” the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Oct. 3 report. The agency said U.S. agricultural exports to Taiwan rose by 17.5% from 2020 to 2021, adding that U.S soybeans, beef, wheat and poultry make up significant shares of Taiwan imports. But competition in a few products has recently “intensified,” USDA said, including for bulk products from Brazil and Argentina. The report provides an outlook for U.S. exporters of meat, pet food, wine and more.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently completed interagency reviews for two final rules. One rule will make revisions to the Unverified List and clarify criteria that may lead to Entity List additions (see 2209300020), and another rule will provide guidance on penalty determinations in anti-boycott-related settlements (see 2209270011). The reviews were completed Sept. 29 and Sept. 26, respectively.
The Federal Maritime Commission awarded a $500,000 contract to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study intermodal chassis pools and whether they can be made more efficient. The study, mandated by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, also will look at the advantages and disadvantages of current chassis pool models and whether the models “have aligned incentives in ownership, management, repair, and provisioning that lead to supply chain efficiency,” the FMC said. The study may result in suggestions to improve “communications, information sharing, and knowledge management practices across chassis pool models,” the commission said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that would revise the Unverified List. Sent for review Sept. 29, the rule would also clarify activities and criteria that could lead to additions to the Entity List.
Exxon Mobil is urging the Biden administration not to place restrictions on fuel exports, saying the controls would hurt global supply and increase domestic gas prices, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 30. In a letter sent to the Energy Department last week, Exxon said fuel exports from the Gulf Coast are “essential to efficiently rebalance markets -- particularly with diverted Russian supplies,” adding that “[r]educing global supply by limiting U.S. exports to build region-specific inventory will only aggravate the global supply shortfall.” The energy company said fuel export restrictions won’t help fill tanks in U.S. regions that need more supplies, but would only “create a glut in the Gulf Coast that would lead refineries to cut output," the report said.
The Commerce Department on Sept. 29 appointed members to its recently established Industrial Advisory Committee, which will provide the agency with guidance on semiconductor issues as it implements the CHIPS for America Act. The 24 committee members -- including officials from chips firms, car companies and academics -- will provide “advice on the science and technology needs” of the U.S. microelectronics industry. The Semiconductor Industry Association applauded the announcement, saying it’s “critical for government, industry, and academia to work collaboratively to ensure the new funding bridges key gaps in the current semiconductor [research and development] ecosystem.”