The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on an information collection related to requests for participation in foreign boycotts against countries friendly to the U.S., according to a notice. BIS analyzes the information to “note changing trends” and decide on actions to take to prevent participation in “foreign restrictive trade practices and boycotts.” Comments are due Feb. 10, 2020.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduling seven trade missions in 2020 in an effort to “grow and diversify” export markets for U.S. agricultural exporters, according to a Dec. 5 press release. The agency is planning trade missions to North Africa, the Philippines, Spain and Portugal, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Peru, and the United Aram Emirates, making up the most trade missions the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service has planned in one year. USDA conducted several trade missions in 2019 with industry representatives, including to Mexico (see 1911050024), West Africa (see 1910280030) and Vietnam (see 1910110050).
Huawei is urging suppliers to move operations offshore to avoid U.S. sanctions and export controls, which would violate U.S. law, according to a Dec. 3 Reuters report. The Chinese technology giant has been “openly advocating” for companies to escape the jurisdiction of U.S. controls so sales can continue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Reuters. “Anybody who does move the product out specifically to avoid the sanction ... that’s a violation of U.S. law,” Ross said. “So here you have Huawei encouraging American suppliers to violate the law.”
The State Department issued notices of its report to Congress under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, which requires the State and Treasury Departments to assess where Iran is buying sensitive materials for its nuclear program and which sectors of its economy are being controlled by the country’s military.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report on China’s recent decision to allow imports of U.S. poultry products (see 1911140019). The report, released Nov. 25, lists steps exporters need to take to be able to export to China and provides information for how “federally inspected establishments” can apply to become exporters. This includes approval by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and China’s General Administration of Customs. All shipments must also include an import permit obtained by the Chinese importer, an “advance electronic notification” sent to China of the shipment, and they may be subject to border clearance and testing by Chinese customs, the report said.
The recently released annual reports to Congress on reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. in 2016 and 2017 (see 1911220060) show an “upward trend” in the number of notifications filed with CFIUS, according to a Nov. 26 post by Thompson Hine. In particular, voluntary notifications for filings in the finance, information and services sectors during the 2016-2017 period (see 1911220060) were particularly high, the post said. For the 2015-2017 period, acquisitions involving Chinese investors accounted for the largest number of CFIUS notices -- about 26 percent of all notices, the post said. In addition, the use of “mitigating measures to obtain CFIUS approval is increasing,” the law firm said. Mitigating agreements -- or agreements put in place by CFIUS agencies that “feel that” certain conditions must be met to ensure compliance and to mitigate potential risk to U.S. national security -- were involved in 18 transactions in 2016 and jumped to 29 transactions in 2017, the post said.
The board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. will hold a partially open meeting Dec. 16 at 2 p.m., according to a Nov. 29 notice. The meeting will be held in Room 1125 at 811 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., and will be open to the public for the first agenda item only -- a small business update. To register for the meeting, contact Joyce Stone, Office of the General Counsel, at (202) 565-3336 by the end of business on Dec. 12.
The State Department has forwarded notifications of proposed export licenses to Congress as required by the Arms Export Control Act, the agency said in a Nov. 27 notice in the Federal Register. The notice includes details on the 91 notifications, sent from November 2018 until May 2019.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls met with Japanese industry representatives to discuss defense trade, the State Department said in a Nov. 25 tweet. The State Department met with representatives sponsored by Japan's Center for International Cooperation on Security Export Controls, calling it a “great opportunity to expand defense trade ties with a key ally!” The State Department last met with Japanese officials Nov. 23 on the margins of the G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Nagoya, Japan. During the meeting, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan “pledged” to continue helping Japan and South Korea’s trade dispute (see 1910240032) through “trilateral cooperation.”
A U.S. foundation representing organizations in the semiconductor technology sector will move to Switzerland due to concerns over U.S. trade restrictions, according to a Nov. 25 Reuters report. RISC-V Foundation, a non-profit, said it has not yet faced restrictions but is “concerned about possible geopolitical disruption,” according to Reuters. The move comes as the Commerce Department restricts sales to certain Chinese technology companies (see 1911180036 and 1910070076) and prepares to release proposed restrictions on emerging and foundational technologies (see 1911200045).