The Office of the Federal Register was closed June 18 due to the new federal holiday Juneteenth, it said. As a result, all the documents posted on its public inspection page that were to be published in the June 18 Federal Register were withdrawn, the OFR said.
U.S. corn and sorghum exports are expected to reach record levels by the end of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, a result of strong foreign demand and reduced competition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a June 16 report. Corn exports for the past year are expected to reach 73 million tons, the “largest in history,” USDA said, while sorghum shipments are expected to reach 7.8 million tons, their highest levels since 2015-2016. Much of the demand has come from China in a trend expected to continue into the next fiscal year, especially for corn, the USDA said.
Promega Corp., a U.S. biotechnology company, said it doesn't sell to China’s Xinjiang region. following a report last week that said the company’s products are being used by Xinjiang police (see 2106150055). “Promega does not conduct business in Xinjiang, and we have no customers or distributors there,” a company spokesperson said in a June 16 email. Promega said it “takes seriously its obligation to comply with all applicable U.S. government export controls and sanctions requirements,” including the Entity List, and has “robust procedures and controls that ensure compliance with such requirements.”
The U.S. and the European Union agreed this week to establish a U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, which will feature working groups on emerging technologies, export controls, investment screening and securing semiconductor supply chains, the White House said June 15. The European Commission said the council will meet “periodically” at the political level and will be chaired by EU trade officials along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The working groups will “operationalise the political decisions into deliverables” and report to the political level, the commission said.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is seeking comments on an information collection involving its annual mandatory survey on foreign direct investment in the U.S. (see 2103120009), a notice said. The survey is used to collect “reliable, useful, and timely measures” of the impact of foreign direct investment on the U.S. economy. Comments are due Aug. 16.
A Chinese private equity fund manager must obtain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. before completing its transaction with a South Korean semiconductor company, a June 4 Securities and Exchange Commission filing said. Beijing-based Wise Road Capital and South Korea-based Magnachip Semiconductor, which has offices in the U.S., were told by CFIUS last month to submit a “notice concerning” Wise Road's buy of Magnachip, Magnachip said, which is now “conditioned on the receipt of CFIUS approval.” The two companies plan to file a joint voluntary notice, and Magnachip said it expects the deal's timeline to be delayed. Magnachip added that it doesn’t believe the transaction “will require any approval” in South Korea but plans to cooperate with the South Korean government if it has questions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security removed a company from the Entity List after receiving a removal request, the agency said in a notice released June 15. BIS removed Satori Corp., listed under the destinations of France and the United Arab Emirates, after the interagency End-User Review Committee received “information” that warranted its removal. The change is effective June 16. Satori was initially added to the Entity list in December (see 2012180039).
The semiconductor industry urged U.S. and European leaders to cooperate more closely on technology and trade, ahead of a meeting this week between U.S. officials and the European Commission. The two sides should “build on their shared strategic interests and advance regulatory cooperation” to strengthen supply chains, Semi, a semiconductor manufacturing industry group, said June 14. Semi said it wrote letters last week to European Commissioner Thierry Breton, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Joe Biden to ask the European Union and the U.S. to form a trade and technology council. The council would ensure “cooperation on critical technologies and supply chains” to reflect “the needs of both partners and our globally integrated microelectronics industry.”
The State Department on June 10 released its annual report to Congress of authorized exports of defense goods and services to foreign countries and international organizations during the 2020 fiscal year. The report covers direct commercial sales of licensed items for permanent export under the Arms Export Control Act and includes export statistics for each country and organization, including aggregate dollar values of the exports, their quantities and data on the actual shipments of those licensed exports.
A joint statement from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden said the two governments commit to the rapid settlement of the Airbus-Boeing subsidies dispute, and said the two countries will "pursue opportunities to deepen our already extensive trade relationship. " The possibility of a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade agreement was not explicitly mentioned, however.