An investigation by the House Select Committee on China found that five U.S. venture capital firms have invested more than $3 billion in Chinese technology companies, many of which aid China’s military, surveillance apparatus and human rights violations, the committee said on Feb. 8.
The Treasury Department is likely to release its draft outbound investment regulations in the next several months, setting them up to potentially take effect before year's end, said foreign investment lawyer Jonathan Gafni of Linklaters.
U.S. priorities during the World Trade Organization's upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference should center on extending the moratorium on e-commerce duties and advancing the second wave of talks on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies, witnesses said at a Feb. 7 hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., welcomed the Biden administration’s recent decision to reimpose sanctions on Venezuela after the country’s supreme court barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from this year’s presidential election (see 2401300014).
More than 150 House Republicans urged President Joe Biden in a Feb. 4 letter to reverse his temporary pause in pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports, saying the moratorium will hurt the U.S. economy and undercut efforts to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy. The letter was led by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. Twenty-six Republican senators sent a similar letter to Biden in late January (see 2401260070).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee late Feb. 6 approved a bill that would make inflation-based adjustments to the dollar thresholds that trigger congressional notification of arms sales.
The U.K. government faced pressure from Parliament this week about whether it failed to sanction companies owned by Iran’s state-backed petrochemicals firm, allowing it to evade western restrictions by maintaining accounts with at least two London banks. Members of Parliament called for an investigation and said the government may need more sanctions enforcement resources.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 approved a bill that would designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization following the Yemen-based group’s recent attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
U.S. commercial space company Momentus has completed the requirements of a 2021 national security agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the company announced last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should get a “significant” funding boost next year so its export control authorities can keep pace with emerging technologies and so its enforcement branch can continue increasing penalties on violators, the top Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee said this week.