The Bureau of Industry and Security updated its Entity List by adding 22 entities, updating one entry and removing three entries, BIS said. The added entities include freight forwarding and logistics companies and a medical instrument supplier.
Two congresswomen are asking for more signatures for a letter that applauds the Commerce Department’s decision to place eight Chinese technology companies on the Entity List and urges the administration not to make concessions on the list in trade negotiations.The letter, written by Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., and Ann Wagner, R-Mo., to be sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, also urges the State Department to impose sanctions on China for its oppression of the Uighur population.
The Commerce Department plans to release proposed export controls on emerging technologies within the “next few weeks” and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on foundational technologies before the end of the year, a top Commerce official said. Matt Borman, the Commerce deputy assistant secretary for export administration, suggested Commerce has been eager to release both controls to ease concerns from U.S. trade groups and companies, which have warned the agency against overly broad, unilateral controls.
The House is scheduled to mark up a bill on Oct. 29 that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank until 2029, increase the bank’s lending authority and introduces a “temporary board” in a situation where the bank lacks a quorum in the future. The bill, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would also rename the bank the Export Finance Agency. Among the most notable portions of the bill is a provision that would increase the bank’s lending power gradually over several years, from $145 billion in 2020 to $175 billion in 2026.
Commerce Department Huawei export restrictions forced semiconductor maker Xilinx to remove all remaining Huawei-related “revenue expectations” from its financial outlook for fiscal 2020 ending in March, CEO Victor Peng said on a fiscal Q2 call Oct. 23. “Considering the continued trade restrictions with Huawei and the uncertainty presented to our business, we believe it is prudent” to “de-risk” the Chinese company from the forecast, Peng said.
The Commerce Department has received more than 200 Huawei-related license requests since the Chinese technology company was added to the agency’s Entity List, a Commerce spokesperson said. The agency is still reviewing the applications. “Given the complexity of the matter, the interagency process is ongoing to ensure we correctly identified which licenses were safe to approve,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. and China appear poised to reach some sort of "mini-deal" before the end of the year, said Bank of America global economists Ethan Harris and Aditya Bhave in an Oct. 18 report. "In our view, both sides see the other as being in a weakened negotiating position," the analysts said. "The US can point to the bigger economic slowdown in China than in the US. China can point to President [Donald] Trump’s impeachment investigation and his desire to maintain a healthy economy going into the election. This argues for a relatively balanced 'win-win' deal."
It is “impossible” for U.S. exporters to fully comply with Commerce Department restrictions on transfers within China because Chinese courts do not enforce the restrictions, according to an Oct. 13 post by Harris Bricken.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 7-11 in case they were missed.
The Trump administration plans to soon issue export licenses to allow a “select few” U.S. companies to supply nonsensitive goods to Huawei, an Oct. 9 report in The New York Times said. Trump approved the step in a meeting last week, the report said, a little more than a month after the Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei until Nov. 18 (see 1908190039).