President Joe Biden revoked Trump-era executive orders targeting WeChat and TikTok as part of a new order to address supply chain risks involving software applications supplied by foreign governments, including China. The decision, announced this week, rescinds three EOs issued by former President Donald Trump that banned transactions with TikTok owner ByteDance, WeChat owner Tencent Holdings (see 2008070024) and other Chinese apps (see 2101060019). Biden issued a new directive in their place, which the White House said will feature a “criteria-based decision framework” and “rigorous, evidence-based analysis” to address risks in the information and communications technology and services supply chain. The new EO will allow U.S. agencies to recommend actions to “protect against harm from the sale, transfer of, or access to sensitive personal data” involving foreign apps.

The State Department again extended a temporary measure to allow employees involved in certain International Traffic in Arms Regulations-related activity to work remotely, the agency said June 9. The measure was first imposed in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2004240017) and was renewed in December after proving popular with industry (see 2012100009). The latest extension, effective June 10, will allow companies to continue using the remote ITAR exemption until the State Department can finalize a rule proposed in May that would make the change permanent (see 2105260008). Comments on that proposed rule are due July 26.

President Joe Biden on June 8 sent to the Senate the nomination of Grant Harris to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for industry and analysis within the International Trade Administration (see 2106040030). Harris runs a consulting company that helps companies do business in emerging markets and was previously an official in the Obama administration.

President Joe Biden said the U.S. is committed to an open investment environment and remains the “most attractive place in the world” for business despite the sometimes rigorous foreign investment screening by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. While the U.S. “will always protect our national security, and certain foreign investments will be reviewed” by CFIUS, the U.S. wants to maintain a “level playing field,” Biden said in a June 8 statement. “We believe that our country -- and our world -- are safer, more resilient, and more prosperous because of the investment of foreign-owned companies in the United States,” he said. “As the United States faces increasing competition for the jobs and industries of the future, we will remain the destination of choice for investors around the world.”

Shannon Barley, a Census Bureau official who works on export-related issues, will soon leave her division and transfer elsewhere within Census, she said in a June 8 email. Barley worked with Kiesha Downs, chief of Census’ Foreign Trade Division’s regulations branch, on the agency’s routed export control effort (see 2012080046), the proposed elimination of export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico (see 2104230025) and other export-related regulations. She will no longer work on the Federal Trade Regulations in her new position as a program analyst in the decennial census division. She starts her new role June 21.

The Federal Maritime Commission is accepting applications from those interested in joining its newly formed National Shipper Advisory Committee, the FMC announced June 7. The committee -- which will accept 12 members from the export community and 12 from the import community -- will meet at least once a year and advise the FMC on the “competitiveness, reliability, integrity, and fairness” of the ocean freight delivery system. Members will serve appointments of up to three years and will not be paid. Applications are due June 30.

President Joe Biden will nominate Grant Harris to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for industry and analysis within the International Trade Administration, the White House announced June 3. Harris is the CEO of the consulting firm Connect Frontier, which advises companies doing business in “emerging and frontier markets,” the White House said. He also teaches strategy and political risk in emerging markets and previously served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and deputy chief of staff to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

Linda Lourie, who previously worked as an acquisitions and logistics counsel for the Defense Department, will join the White House to focus on investment screening and export control issues, she announced June 2 on LinkedIn. Lourie will be the assistant director for research and technology security at the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she said she will work on “national security issues of research and technology security.” This will include the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., export restrictions and intellectual property, she said. The White House didn’t comment.

The State Department approved a $3.5 billion military sale to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said June 3. The sale includes “AH-64E Apache Helicopters” and related equipment, and the prime contractors will be Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The Biden administration announced an interagency review and strategy to better combat corruption, including through the use of sanctions. In a June 3 memo, President Joe Biden directed the Treasury, Commerce and State departments, along with other agencies and offices, to consider recommendations for an improved anti-corruption strategy, which should rely on asset freezing, sanctions, enforcement actions and more robust ownership reporting to Treasury. The U.S. should be “building upon targeted anticorruption sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act and similar authorities,” the White House said in a fact sheet. The U.S. should also better work with allies to counter corruption by foreign leaders, state-owned companies and others by “closing loopholes exploited by these actors to interfere in democratic processes in the United States and abroad.” The interagency review will take place over the next 200 days.