G. Nagesh Rao is now the permanent chief information officer for the Bureau of Industry and Security after previously serving in an acting capacity (see 2101290059), a BIS spokesperson said April 12. Rao works as an information officer to help support BIS’s information technology modernization efforts, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The White House plans to hold a summit with the semiconductor industry today, April 12, to address the global semiconductor shortage and other supply chain issues. The meeting will include representatives from 20 major companies, including carmakers General Motors and Ford, chip companies GlobalFoundries and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and several major technology companies, including Alphabet, Dell Technologies and Intel, the White House said April 9. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo also will participate.
The Treasury Department on April 8 removed the United Arab Emirates from its list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. The UAE announced a decree last year that repealed its boycott of Israel (see 2010130015), and Treasury said the country has taken “subsequent actions” to “implement the new policy.” Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen remain on the list.
The Federal Maritime Commission met this week with lawmakers and held a separate closed session to discuss its investigation into maritime port issues and reports of carriers declining to accept U.S. exports (see 2011200024). The meetings were the first held under the FMC’s new chairman, Daniel Maffei (see 2103310004), and included an update on the “challenges to the freight delivery system,” the FMC said April 7. Trade groups have complained of unfair detention and demurrage fees and other port issues for months (see 2011170041).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is seeking comments on the agency’s information collection requirements in its Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations, OFAC said in a notice released April 7. The information collection covers reports required by OFAC that are reviewed by the Department of the Treasury and may be used for compliance, civil penalty and enforcement purposes by the agency. Comments are due June 7.
The current year for U.S. agricultural exporters will be a “difficult year to forecast” because of the uncertainty surrounding how quickly global economies will recover from the COVD-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said. Despite the many unknowns, “strong demand” from China is expected to continue for many U.S. agricultural exporters, USDA said in its 2020 Agricultural Export Yearbook released April 5. U.S. soybean and corn exporters will continue to see gains, the agency predicted, especially as China continues to implement the phase one trade deal. Exporters can also expect increases in demand from Canada, Mexico and Japan due to recently signed trade deals (see 2103290042 and 1912050058). The report also provides statistics for U.S. agricultural exports to a range of U.S. trading partners in 2020, and breaks down the exports by commodity. Total U.S. agricultural exports rose 7% from 2019 to 2020, mostly due to increased shipments of soybeans, corn and pork to China, USDA said. Agricultural exports reached $146 billion last year.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. is working with the world's 20 largest economies in the hopes of arriving at “a global minimum corporate tax rate that can stop the race to the bottom.” If that agreement included an approach to taxation of the digital giants such as Google and Facebook, that would also deflate the digital services tax controversy, which could otherwise lead to additional 25% tariffs on more than $800 million in goods (see 2103290049).
U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to China, Japan and South Korea have risen to “record highs” in recent months as the region continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported April 2. Some U.S. exports are “running neck and neck” with Qatar, one of the region’s largest LNG suppliers, and gas flows to U.S. export terminals are expected to continue to rise, the report said. Record cold temperatures this winter translated into higher demand for heating, which partly contributed to the increased LNG demand, the report said.
The U.S. and Japan plan to set up a working group on securing supply chains for strategic technologies, including semiconductors, Nikkei Asia said in a report April 1. The two sides will likely agree to terms on the project -- including cooperation on research and development and production of strategic technology components -- when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden meet in Washington later this month, the report said. Both countries hope to address a global shortage of semiconductors and want to create a system where production doesn’t rely on specific regions that may present geopolitical risks, such as Taiwan and China, the report in Nikkei Asia said. The working group will reportedly include representatives from Japan’s trade and national security agencies and the U.S. National Security Council and the Commerce Department.
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a left-of-center critic of free trade policies, criticized the labeling of other countries' public health, food, environmental and privacy regulations as trade barriers, calling it a “shameful tradition.” The U.S. government produces an annual National Trade Estimates report that includes such information. Trade Watch says taking this approach effectively arms commercial interests to attack domestic attempts to impose similar regulations. “Whatever policies in other countries that U.S. commercial interests may find not to their liking, U.S. government officials should not be in the business of elevating special interest peeves into U.S. policy,” said Lori Wallach, director of Global Trade Watch.