The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act, a follow-up bill to OSRA from original co-sponsors Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., passed 58-1 out of the House Transportation Committee May 23.
Concern is “growing” within the U.S., Australia and the U.K. that “indiscriminate and extraterritorial application” of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations will hurt the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership and “slow-roll cooperation on existing technology transfer,” the Sydney-based U.S. Studies Centre said in a report released this month. The report warned that “another failure” to reform the ITAR could “carry significant consequences for the three countries’ shared defence technology advantages vis-a-vis China and, therefore, their ability to deter regional conflict.”
The U.K. and Switzerland have agreed to start negotiations on a new free trade agreement with an aim toward opening opportunities for services and investment, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced. Releasing a document outlining a strategic approach to the FTA talks, the U.K. said the agreement will also look to boost goods trade, promote innovation in emerging technologies and create economic opportunities for the whole of the U.K.
DOJ this week unsealed indictments of six people for trying to illegally ship sensitive items from the U.S., including shipments of dual-use technologies and aircraft parts to Russia, isostatic graphite to Iran and trade secrets to China. The charges are the first enforcement actions brought by the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, a group launched by DOJ and the Commerce Department in February to investigate and prosecute criminal export violations (see 2302160019).
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a temporary denial order this week against two Russian nationals, their Florida company, a Maldives business and a Russian airline for a scheme to illegally supply aviation parts to Russia. Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Vasilii Sergeyevich Besedin used their Florida-based company MIC P&I to try to export to Russia more than $2 million worth of U.S. aircraft components, including Goodrich brake assemblies, in a procurement network that went through Intermodal Maldives and eventually to Russia’s JSC Smartavia Airlines.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced a bill this week that could require the administration to report on foreign investment in the U.S. space industry. The Space Protection of American Command and Enterprise Act would mandate an interagency annual report to Congress on foreign investment in “U.S. space exploration, manufacturing, telecommunications, and national security, including the countries of origin, sources of funds” and other information. It would also require the White House’s National Space Council to report on “investment competition” -- specifically from China and Russia -- aimed at leapfrogging “American economic leadership in commercial space,” including through intellectual property theft.
The chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee used his perch to promote a bill he sponsored that would allow the president to lower duties on non-import-sensitive goods made by a country that lost exports due to coercive actions; increase duties on imports from the "foreign adversary" committing the coercion; and allow the U.S. to more easily facilitate trade, including exports, with the coerced parties (see 2302230021).
The U.K. amended one entry under its Myanmar sanctions regime, in a May 10 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation changed the listing to reflect the company's name change from Synpex Shwe Company Ltd. to SS Techniques Company Limited, with the original name now listed as one the company is also known as.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers this week reintroduced a bill that could establish an outbound investment screening regime to prevent China and others from illegally acquiring sensitive U.S. technology.
Turkey set new import duties on wheat, barley, corn and other grains, which were previously tariff-free but became subject to a 130% duty on May 1, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a recent report. USDA said the duty was likely introduced to protect farmers from a potential influx of cheap grain imports caused by a “widening price gap between domestic and Black Sea grain.” The tariff was also “higher than was originally expected and surprised some local grain traders,” the agency said, adding that the rate is the maximum it can set on grains under World Trade Organization rules.