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.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls recently posted a name change notice for L3 Micreo Pty Ltd and waived the requirement for amendments to change approved license authorizations because of the “volume” of authorizations requiring amendments to reflect the change, DDTC said. L3 Micreo Pty Ltd was changed to L3Harris Micreo Pty Ltd. New license applications received after March 3 that identify the old name “will be considered for return without action for correction.”
The State Department approved three potential military sales to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates worth more than $4 billion combined, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 3.