The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration rolled out new web portal meant to connect the NNSA “nonproliferation efforts to U.S. nuclear technology exporters,” the agency said Aug. 17. The portal, called U.S. Nuclear Nexus, includes a page dedicated to export control compliance. The site “will help industry better understand complex U.S. export control regulations for civilian nuclear technology,” the NNSA said.
The Defense Department’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency will revise its security review and rating process for cleared defense contractors, beginning Sept. 1, the agency said. The new process “incorporates best practices from previous security review models” while “identifying risks posed throughout classified contract performance,” DCSA said Aug. 16. The process will help the agency better “determine measures in place to counter potential threats, identify vulnerabilities and administrative findings, and advise the contractor on how to achieve and maintain an effective security program.” DSCA said it will continue to issue a “formal” security rating for contractors -- superior, commendable, satisfactory, marginal or unsatisfactory -- to reflect their “effectiveness in protecting classified information.”
President Joe Biden will nominate Matthew Axelrod, a former Justice Department official, to be the Commerce Department’s assistant secretary for export enforcement, the White House said Aug. 18. The White House described Axelrod as a “longtime public servant with deep criminal and national security enforcement experience,” citing his time as the principal associate deputy attorney general during the Obama administration. Axelrod had also previously spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor. He is currently part of the Office of the White House Counsel, where he serves as special counsel on domestic and national security matters.
The Commerce Department is seeking comments, due Sept. 15, on an information collection related to export trade certificates, an Aug. 16 notice said. Both Commerce and the Justice Department use the collection to analyze whether the applicant and its members are eligible to “receive the protection of an Export Trade Certificate of Review.” Applications for an Export Trade Certificate of Review is voluntary, and application submissions are required each time an entity applies for a new or amended certificate of review. Certificate holders must also complete an annual report.
The Biden administration should continue to increase Chinese trade restrictions but has done a good job pressuring the country so far, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration. Nikakhtar recently told Nikkei Asia she and others were initially “nervous” that President Joe Biden would ease some restrictions but has been pleased to see a continuation of many of the same export control measures begun under President Donald Trump.
U.S. fruit exports have not seen major benefits from the U.S.-China phase one trade deal due to the rising quality of China’s domestic fruit producers and competition from other countries, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service reported Aug. 9. The agency also said China’s imported fruit market has been “dominated” this year by Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries and other free trade agreement partners, and U.S. fruit products face relatively higher tariffs. The “perishable nature of horticultural exports adds another level of complexity” for U.S. fruit exporters, USDA added, as well as high international shipping costs and China’s COVID-19 testing and disinfection requirements.
Foreign military sales of equipment developed by the Air Force this year will likely surpass 2020 numbers, Air Force Magazine reported Aug. 6. Brig. Gen. Brian Bruckbauer, director of the Air Force’s Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate, recently told reporters that FMS continue to be “brisk” despite the COVID-19 pandemic and said the directorate has a backlog of $226 billion in active FMS casework. An additional $41 billion in FMS cases are ready to be executed but have not yet officially been signed off, Bruckbauer said, according to the report.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told Washington state farmers Aug. 5 that she wants to make sure agricultural exporters "can bring your products to new markets and new customers," and that she is holding trading partners accountable for their commitments, such as improved dairy access in Canada and opening Mexico to American fresh potato exports. Tai was visiting the district of Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Democratic leader for free trade and a House Ways and Means Committee member. This followed a similar visit last month to Rep. Ron Kind's district in Wisconsin, where she had the same message to farmers. Kind, too, is a prominent Democrat supporting free trade and a Ways and Means member. In June, Tai visited Flint, Michigan, home to Rep. Dan Kildee, a Ways and Means Democrat who always talks about how trade devastated manufacturing workers in Flint. She heard from workers who told her how trade had affected them.
The State Department approved potential military sales to Taiwan and Japan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 4. The agency approved a $750 million sale to Taiwan for “155mm M109A6 Paladin Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer System” and related equipment. BAE, BAE Systems and Anniston Army Depot are the prime contractors.
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating the surcharge practices of eight ocean carriers after receiving industry complaints that the carriers have “improperly” imposed fees, the commission said Aug. 4. The carriers -- CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Matson, MSC, OOCL, SM Line and Zim -- have until Aug. 13 to respond to questions by the FMC’s Bureau of Enforcement and to “provide details that confirm any surcharges were instituted properly and in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations.”