The Treasury Department this week released its list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. Listed are Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. The list is unchanged from the previous version (see 2304070037).
The State Department approved $975 million worth of “M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems” and related equipment for a potential military sale to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Aug. 18. The principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Corp., Leonardo DRS and Oshkosh Corp.
The Commerce Department is giving a selection committee more time to choose the board members for a National Semiconductor Technology Center (see 2304250032), a key piece of the Chips Act designed to bring together the government, national labs, chip companies, suppliers, academia, investors and others to collaborate on semiconductor matters. Commerce announced members of the selection committee in June and planned for the committee to “automatically terminate” by Aug. 31, but the agency said this week the committee “would benefit from additional time to complete this important task.” The termination date will now be Sept. 30.
A federal government payment website, Pay.gov, may be offline Aug. 19 from 6 p.m to 10 p.m. EDT during a "disaster recovery exercise," the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said. The outage will affect users paying their registration fees during this window. Users should direct questions and concerns to pay.gov customer support at 800-624-1373 or pay.gov.clev@clev.frb.org.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending its public comment period for an information collection involving its “simple network application process” and “multipurpose application form.” The process and form allows exporters to submit license applications, commodity classification requests, encryption review requests and other “notifications” to BIS. Comments were previously due Aug. 11 (see 2306090018), but the agency is allowing for another 30 days.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments on China's compliance with its World Trade Organization obligations. Comments and requests to testify at an Oct. 4 public hearing are due by 11:59 p.m. Sept. 20. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. Comments may be submitted at regulations.gov using Docket Number USTR–2023-0008.
The State Department Aug. 14 announced a new package of security aid for Ukraine, including air defense munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities and mine-clearing equipment. The $200 million package is being "executed from previously authorized Presidential Drawdown Authority," the agency said.
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating the Mediterranean Shipping Company for violating U.S. shipping regulations, including by using “overbroad” merchant clauses in its bills of lading, mishandling fees and failing to publish tariff rates. The agency may fine MSC if it determines the carrier violated the Shipping Act.
China is not convinced that the U.S. is only trying to derisk, not decouple, from China’s economy, said Ryan Hass, a former National Security Council official. He said Beijing is wary of the growing number of U.S. sanctions and trade restrictions and doesn’t believe the Biden administration is acting in “good faith,” which risks further worsening tensions.
USDA is advising vanilla extract exporters to stop shipping to the EU after the bloc introduced a new requirement that shippers may not be able to comply with. The EU’s new measure requires “guarantees” from the U.S. government that American vanilla extract shipments comply with the EU’s maximum residue levels of ethylene oxide, but USDA said it can’t provide those guarantees.