China has been “consistently” building a set of policy tools it can use to retaliate against the U.S. and other countries in response to trade controls or other restrictions, and companies could soon start seeing China deploy those tools more frequently, said David Hathaway, a consultant on China issues for The Asia Group.
Exports to China
The U.S. government should create a joint interagency task force led by the national security adviser to develop better ways to prevent China from obtaining sensitive dual-use technology from the U.S. and its allies, a bipartisan congressionally mandated commission said Nov. 19.
South Korea should be invited to join the Group of 7 nations because of its willingness to work with the U.S. and other allies in imposing sanctions and export controls against Russia, the country’s former foreign affairs minister said this week.
Chinese President Xi Xinping raised concerns about U.S. export controls during what was expected to be his last meeting with President Joe Biden before Donald Trump takes office (see 2411140018), warning the U.S. against pursuing policies that could lead to the decoupling of the two economies.
A letter reportedly sent by the Commerce Department ordering Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to stop shipments of advanced semiconductors to certain Chinese customers (see 2411120011) is a “serious violation of international economic and trade rules” and a “gross interference in free trade,” a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said last week.
Chinese and South Korean officials met in China last week for an export control “consultation” to share information about their respective export restrictions, according to an unofficial translation of a Chinese Ministry of Commerce notice. The officials also held “in-depth exchanges” with industry officials who also attended the meeting, China said. “The two sides agreed to further strengthen communication and cooperation, promote the development of bilateral compliant trade, and jointly maintain the stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain and supply chain.”
The next Trump administration is likely to build on Biden’s outbound investment executive order and semiconductor export controls against China, researchers said last week, and could double down on sanctions against Iran and Venezuela in a return to the “maximum pressure” campaign Trump embraced during his first term.
The Trump administration would be unwise to expand its export controls to cover older-generation semiconductors destined to China, but it could pursue new restrictions over less advanced versions of the tools used to make certain chips, technology policy analysts said in interviews, particularly if it’s willing to be more aggressive than the Biden administration in talks with the Dutch and Japanese.
The Commerce Department sent a letter to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ordering it to stop shipments of advanced semiconductors to certain Chinese customers, including 7 nanometer chips or others of “more advanced designs,” Reuters reported Nov. 9. The letter specifically orders TSMC to stop shipments, beginning Nov. 11, destined for Chinese customers of chips that power artificial intelligence accelerator and graphics processing units, the report said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.