Information collected under the Export Control Reform Act is “presumptively withheld” from Freedom of Information Act requests, the U.S. said July 14 in a case involving the disclosure of documents related to an addition to the Entity List (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 1:24-02733).
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, introduced a bill July 17 that would require the Bureau of Industry and Security to increase the number of export control officers stationed in foreign countries to at least 20, up from 11 today.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 19-10 July 17 to approve an FY 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill that would provide $211 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security, up $20 million or 10.5% from the FY 2025 enacted level but well below the 59% increase the agency was seeking.
A bill to mandate location-tracking mechanisms for exports of advanced chips was panned this week by technology policy experts who said the requirement would be tricky to implement and could push foreign customers to stop trusting American-made semiconductors. They also said Congress should be more focused on boosting the Bureau of Industry and Security budget to help the agency step up enforcement.
The Trump administration’s decision to approve exports of advanced Nvidia chips to China could backfire on the U.S. the next time it tries to convince allies to restrict their advanced technology shipments to China, Divyansh Kaushik of Beacon Global Strategies said.
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The Bureau of Industry and Security’s latest export control enforcement action against a semiconductor firm shows the agency may be preparing to target companies that flout its high probability standard, a trade lawyer and industry consultant said.
The House Appropriations Committee released an FY 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill July 14 that would provide $303 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security, up $112 million or 59% from the FY 2025 enacted level.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a new interim final rule that could make "revisions" to the Export Administration Regulations. The agency sent the rule for interagency review July 10. BIS didn't release more information.
The U.S. government, together with industry, needs to set clearer guardrails around sensitive technology shipments destined to China, two panelists said during an event on export controls last week. Another panelist questioned whether the Trump administration is willing to set tougher rules, saying Beijing appears to have recently gained extra leverage and adding that the U.S. has for years failed to deter companies from flouting restrictions against China.