Nearly half of U.S. companies surveyed by the Bureau of Industry and Security this year said they didn’t know whether their products contained any Chinese-made, mature-node semiconductors, BIS said in a summary of those survey results released Dec. 6.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, in preparation for its April Special 301 Report on countries that don't provide adequate protection of intellectual property rights, is seeking comments as well as requests to testify at a Feb. 19 hearing.

The State Department approved a possible $107.7 million military sale to Tunisia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Dec. 3. The sale includes Javelin missiles and related elements of logistics and program support, and the prime contractors will be the Javelin Joint Venture between Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp.

The State Department approved a possible $1.17 billion military sale to India, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Dec. 2. The sale includes “MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter “Equipment” and related support, and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems.

The State Department approved two possible military sales to Taiwan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 29. One sale includes $320 million worth of spare parts and support for F-16 aircraft, and the equipment will be transferred from U.S. government stock. The second sale includes $65 million worth of equipment and services related to the "Mobile Subscriber Equipment (IMSE) and Experimental Force (EXFOR) system," and the principal contractor will be General Dynamics Mission Systems.

The National Turkey Federation and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, announced this month that the U.S. has begun exporting turkey products to India thanks to a September 2023 trade agreement that called for the South Asian country to reduce tariffs on several food items, including frozen turkey (see 2309080049). The first shipment, which was provided by Virginia turkey farmers, recently left the U.S. from the Port of Virginia, the announcement says.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending the public comment period for an information collection involving the Chemical Weapons Convention provisions in the Export Administration Regulations. The collection describes the purpose of the CWC, U.S. reporting obligations and information on certain end-use certificates. Comments were due Oct. 28, but BIS said it’s allowing for another 30 days (see 2408270015).

The U.S., Australia and the U.K. signed a “landmark” agreement to use each other’s hypersonic flight testing facilities and share technical information to develop, test and evaluate hypersonic systems and technologies, the Pentagon announced this month. The agreement was signed under Pillar II of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership, which aims to reduce trade barriers and boost collaboration among the three nations around sensitive defense technologies.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control will retire its RSS feed Jan. 31 but continue to provide updates about recent sanctions actions by email, the agency announced Nov. 22. OFAC website users can sign up for email updates here. Technical support questions should be sent to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.

The State Department approved two possible military sales, to South Korea and to Ukraine, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 19. The South Korea sale includes $6.2 billion worth of equipment and services to upgrade its F-15K aircraft fleet, and the primary contractors will be Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems. Ukraine will buy equipment and services to refurbish vehicles along with technical assistance, training and more for $100 million, and the principal contractor hasn’t yet been chosen.