The Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a resolution to temporarily cease financing for exports of personal protective equipment, EXIM said in an April 14 press release. Financing will no longer be available through Sept. 30 for certain “critically needed” medical supplies and equipment, such as masks, gloves, face shields and other items identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week (see 2004080018). EXIM said it will contact insured exporters of medical equipment and make sure their existing agreements only cover exports that “reflect the new EXIM policy,” the bank said. Financing for medical equipment represents “a relatively small portion of EXIM’s overall financing portfolio,” at less than 1%, the bank said.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security this week postponed several upcoming export compliance seminars due to the COVID-19 pandemic response and announced an online-only export control conference for May. The online conference, which will run May 19-22, will cover a range of export compliance topics, BIS said, including the scope of the Export Administration Regulations, classifying items for export, using license exceptions, the de minimis and direct product rules, export enforcement and more. The conference will be hosted by “BIS specialists” during a daily three-hour session from 9 a.m. to noon. The conference will also include a question-and-answer session. Note that the conference is on Pacific Daylight Time.
Marshall Billingslea, the Treasury Department's former assistant secretary for terrorist financing, was named the special presidential envoy for arms control, the State Department said April 10. In the role, Billingslea will lead U.S. arms control negotiations, which will include a “new era” of arms control that “moves beyond the bilateral treaties of the past,” the State Department said. Billingslea has staunchly defended the U.S. sanctions and its maximum pressure campaign against Iran (see 1909130064).
The State Department’s Defense Trade Advisory Group will hold its May 14 meeting online due to the measures in place to control the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said in a notice. The meeting will feature discussions on improvements surrounding the Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025), improving compliance guidelines for companies and universities, and more. The group, composed of industry representatives in the defense trade sector, advises the State Department on policies, regulations and technical issues impacting defense trade.
The Treasury Department issued a current list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. The list includes Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, unchanged from the previous iteration of the list.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold an April 16 webinar on tips and tricks for using the Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025), DDTC said April 8. The webinar will include commonly asked questions, a best-practices discussion and a question-and-answer session. The webinar will also cover updates to the DECCS enrollment process, registration renewal procedures, setting up license groups and signing a license as an empowered official.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls revised two frequently asked questions regarding U.S. persons abroad who request authorizations for exporting controlled defense services (see 2002200028), the agency said April 6. The first FAQ applies to situations in which a person’s employment for a foreign company qualifies as a defense services export, and the second FAQ addresses whether U.S. exporters will be granted a “safe harbor” period if they request authorization for exports of defense services they are performing without a license.
Eighty agricultural trade groups are asking the Trump administration to push through a proposed Federal Maritime Commission rule that would provide guidance about how the FMC assesses the fairness of demurrage and detention practices. The rule would help mitigate the “ongoing unconscionable imposition of millions of dollars” of detention penalties being faced by agricultural exporters, whose shipments are being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the groups said in an April 3 letter. The groups -- which include dairy, meat, grain, vegetable and fruit trade associations -- urged White House Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue “to work with the FMC to expeditiously adopt the Interpretive Rule as published.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture postponed its June 8-11 trade mission to Spain and Portugal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said in an April 6 email to industry. The USDA did not provide a new date for the mission. The USDA had planned seven export trade missions this year (see 1912060027).
President Donald Trump’s decision to invoke the Defense Production Act for supplies of ventilators and N95 face masks (see 2004030063) will not disrupt U.S. exports that are “consistent” with U.S. national interest, the White House said in an April 3 statement. “Nothing in this order will interfere with the ability of [personal protective equipment] manufacturers to export when doing so is consistent with United States policy and in the national interest of the United States,” the White House said. The order is meant to target price gougers “with the ability to unscrupulously divert PPE inventories from domestic customers,” the statement said. “Today’s order is another step in our ongoing fight to prevent hoarding, price gouging, and profiteering by preventing the harmful export of critically needed PPE.”