The Justice Department hasn’t yet begun prosecuting cases involving violations of the Commerce’s Department's newly issued end-user restrictions but expects that to soon become a significant part of the agency’s focus, a senior Department of Justice official said.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai heard many bipartisan complaints about the pain of both Section 301 tariffs and Europe's retaliatory tariffs in response to steel tariffs, but stood her ground on both during a hearing in front of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

U.S. universities are opposing the Senate’s Strategic Competition Act of 2021 over a provision that would expand foreign investment screening to include foreign gifts over $1 million given to U.S. universities. In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month, four academic groups said the expanded jurisdiction awarded to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. would subject “many gifts” received by colleges to a CFIUS review and would make it “harder” for colleges to conduct research.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for April 19-23 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

President Joe Biden’s executive order authorizing new Russian sanctions represents a significant expansion of U.S. sanctions authority and paves the way for more trade restrictions in the coming months, law firms said. The measures will cause some companies to rethink their trade ties to Russia, the firms said, especially as tensions between the two countries continues to rise.

The Census Bureau is unsure how much longer it needs to decide whether to eliminate export filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico, saying it is still reviewing public comments and speaking with industry officials, Puerto Rican researchers and other U.S. agencies that use the data. Perhaps most important, the agency remains unsure whether it can use alternative data sources to compensate for all the information that would no longer be collected if Census decides to nix the Electronic Export Information requirements, said Omari Wooden, a senior Census official.

The Commerce Department is open to establishing a national export strategy to help increase foreign market access for U.S. manufacturers, farmers, carmakers and other industries, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. Commerce, she said, has noticed a trend of “declining exports,” particularly for smaller companies, and wants to provide more support for U.S. exporters alongside efforts to boost domestic manufacturing in semiconductors and other critical goods (see 2103110047).

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed its comprehensive China bill with several amendments, sending a bill to the Senate floor that could update China-related sanctions, export controls and foreign investment reviews. Senators said they expect the Strategic Competition Act of 2021 -- which would authorize a host of measures to address trade and technology competition issues with China and expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (see 2104080066) -- to garner broad bipartisan support before the full Senate.

While the U.S. needs a comprehensive technology strategy, it first should create new bureaucratic processes to implement that strategy or else risk uncoordinated policies with little impact, the Center for a New American Security said in an April 20 report. The report, which builds off previous research (see 2103160047) by the think tank that called for a better technology strategy to counter China, argues that current U.S. agencies and government bodies are unequipped to maximize the effectiveness of export controls and other trade policy tools.

Despite more scrutiny from the U.S., Chinese foreign direct investment in North America grew by almost half in 2020 compared to 2019, according to an April 19 Baker McKenzie report. But trade and investment experts cautioned industry about placing too much stock in those numbers, saying two-way U.S.-China investment remains “very low” and Chinese firms are still wary about gaining approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.