Twenty-one technology, auto and business groups urged the House and Senate to quickly negotiate a compromise for their China competition bills that would authorize funding for the Chips Act and other domestic semiconductor sector investments. The Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate and House should “take immediate action to reconcile the two bills” and send a passed version to President Joe Biden, the groups said in a Feb. 16 letter signed by the Semiconductor Industry Association, SEMI, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Automotive Policy Council and others.
The Federal Maritime Commission is officially seeking feedback on the possibility of new demurrage and detention billing requirements, which could require carriers and terminal operators to include “certain minimum information” with their billings and issue those billings within a certain time frame. The pre-rule, previewed by the commission earlier this month (see 2202070026), is part of a larger FMC effort to address fees and other problems in the international ocean freight delivery system that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2011200024 and 2107290021). Comments on the rule, released Feb. 14, are due March 17.
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Indonesia worth about $13.9 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 10. The sale is for F-15ID aircraft and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Boeing.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced Feb. 11. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until Feb. 18.
The Senate on Feb. 9 voted to confirm Reta Jo Lewis as president of the Export-Import Bank. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said Lewis "will put American workers and exporters first" and understands that Ex-Im "is vital to manufacturing jobs and our nation’s economic competitiveness."
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Jordan worth about $70 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 8. The sale is for “Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) Alternate Warhead (AW) Unitary Rocket Pods” and related equipment. The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control.
The White House this week released an updated list of critical and emerging technology categories that are important to national security, including a new subset of “novel, advanced technologies” for each category. The updated list, first issued in 2020 as part of a national strategy to better coordinate agency efforts amid technology competition with China (see 2010150038), will help guide “new and existing efforts to promote U.S. technological leadership,” the White House said. The list could intersect with work being done by the Bureau of Industry and Security, which is crafting export controls over various emerging and foundational technologies as part of the Export Control Reform Act (see 2201280045). Similarly, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. may be more inclined to scrutinize transactions involving sensitive and emerging technologies (see 2112140011).
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Taiwan worth about $100 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 7. The sale is for equipment and services to “support participation in the Patriot International Engineering Services Program (IESP) and Field Surveillance Program (FSP)” for five years. It also includes “engineering services support, designed to sustain, maintain, and improve the Patriot Air Defense System.” The prime contractors will be Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin.
The U.S. and EU should address unfair trade practices by state-owned companies, unnecessary tariffs on information and communications technology products and a range of other issues at the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council’s global trade challenges working group, the Information Technology Industry Council said. ITI said the working group should specifically look to coordinate U.S. and EU responses toward state-owned enterprises and their forced technology transfers. It should also “collaborate to confront” foreign tariffs on ICT goods, which violate the World Trade Organizations’ Information Technology Agreement. “Such tariffs directly impact EU and U.S. exports, hinder development outcomes, exacerbate supply chain uncertainty, and erode international respect for multilateral commitments,” ITI said Feb. 8.
With new data out about exports to China, economist Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics says that China only bought 60% of the goods it promised, and about 57% of all it promised, when services are included. In all, China said it would buy $502.4 billion from U.S. sources in 2020 and 2021.