The U.S. should form a new export control strategy to better pinpoint the restrictions that will impose the highest costs on China, with a particular focus on technologies where the U.S. and its allies dominate the global market, researchers said. They also said the U.S. should create a new agency or government position to coordinate export controls, sanctions and other economic statecraft tools against China and other adversaries.
Exports to China
China voiced its opposition to the Bureau of Industry and Security's recent move to add 37 Chinese technology companies, manufacturing firms, research institutions and others to the Entity List (see 2405090023), saying Beijing will "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," according to an unofficial translation of a news release that highlights a response to a reporter's question at a Beijing press conference. A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson accused the U.S. of "overextending" its concept of national security and said it has "abused" its export control measures.
A bipartisan group of four House members, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, introduced a bill last week that they said would help the Bureau of Industry and Security control exports of artificial intelligence systems and other new national security-related technologies.
The House Select Committee on China announced last week it has begun investigating Georgia Institute of Technology’s research collaboration with China’s Tianjin University, which has “significant ties” to China's military and has been on the Commerce Department’s Entity List since 2020 (see 2012180039).
While the U.S. should look to counter China with export controls, tariffs and outbound investment restrictions, it also needs to better incentivize trading partners to diversify their supply chains away from China, the Atlantic Council said this week.
China again extended its Section 301 retaliatory tariff exclusion period for sorbitol and other non-U.S. agricultural goods, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a May report. The exclusion period was scheduled to expire April 30 but now will remain in effect until Nov. 30. USDA said this is the seventh time China has extended the exclusion period for sorbitol, adding that the U.S. was the third-largest supplier of sorbitol to China in 2023, with Chinese imports reaching $1.2 million.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 37 Chinese technology companies, manufacturing firms, research institutions and others to the Entity List for trying to acquire U.S.-export controlled items for China’s military or quantum technology capabilities, shipping controlled items to Russia, or for their ties to a “High Altitude Balloon” that the U.S. shot down last year.
China recently updated the list of products whose foreign production facilities are required to register under Decree 248, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report this month. China removed from the list two products and added 14 products, impacting certain aquatic products, edible vegetable oils, frozen fruits and special medical use formula. It said: "Some of the updates are not complete removals of the products but additions of the same products with different Customs, Inspection, and Quarantine (CIQ) codes created for China Customs’ use."
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a new advisory this week to alert industry about the ways Iran-backed terrorist organizations are illegally circumventing or using the international financial system to raise, move and spend money. The advisory also includes a list of red flags to help banks and other financial institutions catch suspicious activity that may be linked to those groups.
The Biden administration, which announced in August 2023 that it would develop restrictions on outbound investment in China (see 2308090066), expects to finalize the new regulations by the end of calendar year 2024, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said May 8.