Early Saturday morning, the Senate approved legislation extending governemnt funding for three months and providing disaster assistance for Appalachia and Florida.. The 85 - 11 vote in the Senate followed on a 366 - 34 approval by the House earlier in the day Friday.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) introduced a bill he intends to call “Safeguard American Innovation Act,” The legislation, introduced December 17th, prohibits the Defense Department from contracting for IT services with a company that has R&D or Data Centers in the PRC.
The Justice Department submitted to the Federal Register last week a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update and clarify regulations issued under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). FARA requires persons in the United States who are acting as agents of foreign principals and engaged in certain specified activities to make periodic public disclosures of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts, and disbursements in support of those activities.
The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing titled “Trade Wars & Higher Costs: The Case Against Trump’s Tariffs.” Chaired by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), the session focused on President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 20% on virtually all imported goods. Witnesses warned that the tariffs would increase consumer prices, harm U.S. competitiveness, and fail to generate sufficient revenue to offset proposed tax cuts. he same day of the hearing, December 18th, the Congressional Budget Office released a report on the effects of tariffs, noting the proposed Trump tariffs would have first-order impacts on GDP and prices, in the neighborhood of 0.5 to 1 percent, although the report notes "The United States has implemented no increases in tariffs of this size in more than 50 years, so there is little relevant empirical evidence on their effects."
This week Commerce Department announced the latest in the Biden Adminstration's scramble to get the CHIPS grant commitments out before the change of regime. The $7.626 billion of subsidies went to two American companies, two from Korea, and one from Taiwan. The funds are to build facilities in the United States.
December 16 the Commerce Department published a final rule for "Regulations Enhancing the Administration of the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Trade Remedy Laws," The rule codifies existing procedures and methodologies and creates or revises regulatory provisions related to several matters. Among the changes are the collection of cash deposits, indicators used in surrogate country selection, application of antidumping rates in nonmarket economy proceedings, calculation of an all-others’ rate, selection of examined respondents, and attribution of subsidies received by cross-owned input producers and utility providers to producers of subject merchandise.
An Illinois aviation services company will pay over $55 million to resolve investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). AAR Corp was facing prosecution for paying bribes to government officials in Nepal and South Africa.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is releasing the third video in its "OFAC Basics" video series, "Applying for a License to Release Blocked Funds." This video provides viewers with guidance and the recommended steps for how to submit a specific license application for the release of blocked funds. The “OFAC Basics” series serves as a companion series to the "Introduction to the OFAC" series.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the second round of Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) grants, allocating $300 million to [67 partners] once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied, promoting American food and agricultural exports in emerging global markets. This latest investment brings total RAPP funding to $600 million in 2024. “RAPP is a critical tool for helping U.S. producers and agribusinesses stay competitive in today’s global trading environment,” Secretary Vilsack said.
On Tuesday the American Anode Material Producers filed a petition calling for an anti-dumping investigation with punitive tariffs of up to 920% on Chinese graphite, acccording to news reports and an announcement from the producers' lawyers. A ninefold increase in graphite pricing would double the cost of a US-made EV battery. While the US produces no natural graphite, synthetic material from China is subject to a 25% levy, imposed during the first Trump administration in 2018. Tesla and two Korean battery firms have been lobbying for exemptions, asserting that nascent US synthetic graphite capacity is inadequate.
A Canadian national was was sentenced Monday to 24 months in prison for conspiring to send to undercover law enforcement officers trade secrets that belonged to his previous employer, Tesla Motors Canada subsidiary Hibar Systems Ltd. Klaus Pflugbeil, a Chinese resident and a Canadian and German national, and his co-defendant, Yilong Shao, who remains at large, are owners of a PRC-based business Hife Systems, that sold technology used to make batteries, allegedly used stolen confidential information – developed by Hibar – to establish their own Chinese-based competitor.
The founder of Iranian company and an engineering PhD and Marketing Manager of a Boston-area microelectronics manufacturer were arrested and charged with Violating Export Control Laws in Conspiracy to Procure Sensitive U.S. Technology for Use in IRGC Military Drones Mahdi Sadeghi, 42, a dual U.S.-Iranian national of Natick, Massachusetts, and Mohammad Abedini, 38, of Tehran, Iran, have been charged with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws. Abedini is also charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), , that resulted in the deaths of three U.S. servicemembers who were killed by a one-way attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as a drone, on a military base in Jordan. Sadeghi was arrested and made his initial appearance Monday in the District of Massachusetts. Abedini was also arrested in Italy by Italian authorities at the request of the United States.
In remarks to industry in Washington December 9th, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod outlined the growth and challenges facing the trade security community over his 36 month tenure at the Commerce Department. His speech to the Practising Law Institute’s Export Controls Conference addressed his "Three Ps": Laser focused Priorities, Raising the Profile of Export Enforcement, and Harnessing Partnerships within and beyond the government.
Candidate Trump promised tariffs on all imports from 10 to 20 percent, with a special rate of 60 percent on all imports from China. While special favors and brinksmanship will determine the ultimate levies, it's worth taking a look at where the costs of the proposed duties will fall. Consumers can expect to see higher prices reflected in electrical devices, toys and sporting goods, vegetable and meat products, and imported foodstuffs. Consumer electronics were largely shielded from the 2018 tariffs, including cell phones, laptops, and smartwatches. Toys and sports equipment are currently very lightly taxed, the authors note, and a 60 percent tariff almost certainly will be felt directly by American household
A new commentary from Barath Harithas and Andreas Schumacher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides a single resource guide for understanding U.S. export controls on China from 2022 to 2024. It provides a clear account of the motivations driving U.S. actions in 2022 and identifies a familiar pattern of gaps in 2023 and 2024
The Justice Department announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment against a Russian national, charged with conspiracy and violations of U.S. sanctions for assisting sanctioned Russian media baron and businessman Konstantin Malofeyev. The indictment alleges that Alexey Komov. conspired with Malofeyev to recruit and employ an American citizen, John Hanick, to assist in the creation and operation of a Russian television network. Komov also allegedly worked with Malofeyev, Hanick, and others to unlawfully transfer a $10 million investment Malofeyev held in a U.S. bank to a Greek business associate. This transfer violated U.S. sanctions blocking Malofeyev’s assets.
The chair of the long-stalled agriculture negotiations, Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye provided a written statement to the TNC. He noted that recent discussions have focused on process, in particular whether a facilitator-led process should accompany engagement by members among themselves on issues of interest. Despite efforts to find a compromise, members were not in a position to agree on a way forward.
Friday the House Republican Steering Committee recommended the following new members to the Ways and Means Committee for the 119th Congress: Rep. Aaron Bean (FL-04), Rep. Max Miller (OH-07), Rep. Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), and Rep. Rudy Yakym (IN-02)
There has been a sharp rise in trade-restrictive measures in the year ending mid October, the World Trade Organization reported. The latest Trade Monitoring Report indicates coverage of trade-restrictive measures between mid-October 2023 and mid-October 2024 increased. The report, released Wednesday for a meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body, also shows WTO members introduced a substantial number of trade-facilitating measures. But there is increasing evidence of inward-looking trade policies which could generate further uncertainty for the world economy, according to the report.
The United States – for the third time – is seeking establishment of a panel under the US-Mexico Canada Agreement’s labor rights dispute settlement mechanism. The request comes after the US was unable to agree with the Mexican Government on a response to alleged worker right violations at a mining facility state of Zacatecas owned by a Canadian miner. In at least 22 cases to date, the United States and Mexico have been able to cooperate to successfully address labor rights violations at the Mexican facilities in question, according to the US Trade Representative’s Office. But the two sides were not able to reach agreement on a resolution in this case.
