Commerce Nominee Raimondo Pledges to Balance Export Controls, Tech Industry Competitiveness

Commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo was asked several times in written questions from senators after her hearing about how she would balance the need to prevent cutting edge technologies from being shared with adversaries but also allow U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to compete with foreign companies that don't have the same restrictions on selling chips.

Her nomination was approved 21-3 in the Senate Finance Committee Feb. 3; the vote in the full Senate has not yet been scheduled.

“If confirmed, I will assess the current process for obtaining input from industry to assure effective export controls that protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests while mitigating negative effects on U.S. technological leadership. As Secretary, I will also prioritize multilateral and plurilateral engagements that harmonize U.S. export controls with those of like-minded nations, which will strengthen our ability to maintain an effective export control system while limiting the ability of our foreign adversaries to continue to access sensitive U.S. technologies for malign purposes,” she wrote. She also said, “U.S. technological competitiveness is a key concern of mine, and my goal is to ensure that our defense of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests does not come at a cost to U.S. long-term leadership in technology and innovation.”

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said KLA, a semiconductor manufacturer that is opening operations in Michigan, is having a hard time competing with manufacturers in Korea, Japan and Europe because of export controls. “I support efforts to be tough on China, so I hope we can work together to strengthen the restrictions on China while ensuring our companies can compete globally,” he wrote.

Raimondo responded, “If confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, I will commit to working with you on this issue. I will ensure that the Department conducts a full analysis of any changes in export control requirements before implementation.”

She was also asked about the shortage of semiconductor chips available for automobile manufacturing. “In the short term, we should work with trading partners to explore options for alleviating this shortage. In the long term, we must take steps to ensure a resilient and secure supply chain for semiconductor chips, including continued assistance to firms expanding their semiconductor manufacturing investments in the United States,” she said.

Finance Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., asked her to review the interim final rule on Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) Supply Chains to see if it is reasonable, and she said she would do so.

“The United States is engaged in strategic competition with China, and technology is a central domain of that competition. We should have no illusions about China’s objectives, which I believe are to undercut America’s longstanding technological advantage and to displace America as the global leader in cutting-edge research and development and the industries of the future,” she said. “The national security and economic consequences of allowing that to happen are simply unacceptable. That is the bottom-line perspective I will bring to this role, if confirmed.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pressed her on human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China. On that topic, she said, “I will review how the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) authorities can be leveraged to promote the protection of human rights, as Congress directed in the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), including through review of licenses for human rights concerns and Entity List actions.”