The Commerce Department announced on Jan. 4 that it has agreed to provide about $162 million to Microchip Technology under the Chips Act to nearly triple semiconductor production at the company’s facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Gresham, Oregon.
Marc Selinger
Marc Selinger, Assistant Editor, is the congressional reporter for Export Compliance Daily, which he joined in December 2023. He previously wrote for a variety of defense publications, highlights of which included covering the Paris and Farnborough (UK) air shows and touring the Israeli defense industry. His first full-time journalism job involved reporting on local government, schools and police news for a community newspaper in Michigan. He is on X at @marcselinger and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-selinger-315089173/.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., has introduced a resolution aimed at improving U.S. relations with Latin America, including by ending all unilateral economic sanctions imposed on the region by executive order.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Defense and Treasury departments on Jan. 4 to blacklist China-based Quectel Wireless Solutions, saying the manufacturer of Internet connectivity modules has troubling ties to the Chinese military.
International shipping companies are being forced to "reroute their vessels" around the Cape of Good Hope amid a rise in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group on ships transiting the Red Sea, "adding significant cost and weeks of delay to the delivery of goods," the U.S. and 12 other countries said in a joint statement Jan. 3 (see 2312200045). They said the Houthi attacks on ships are "jeopardizing the movement of critical food, fuel, and humanitarian assistance throughout the world."
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is adding staff and becoming more active amid growing concern about China, Dechert said in a client alert.
Seven Republican senators led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill this month aimed at countering the Commerce Department’s recent 90-day pause in issuing commercial firearms export licenses.
A U.S. appeals court this month upheld the conviction and 57-month prison sentence of Florida business owner Peter Sotis for conspiring to and illegally attempting to ship export-controlled rebreather diving equipment to Libya.
Four lawmakers are urging the State Department to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials who offered bounties for the arrests of five Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living abroad, including two in the United States.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is urging the Commerce Department to block exports of chip design software to China’s Brite Semiconductor, which reportedly offers chip design services to six Chinese military suppliers (see 2312130020).
U.S. Steel Corp. and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., which recently agreed to a merger, plan to ask the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review their proposed deal, U.S. Steel said on Dec. 21.