The U.S. has so far declined to tell the EU how it chose the 18 countries that will benefit from mostly unrestricted access to advanced artificial intelligence chips under the Bureau of Industry and Security’s AI diffusion rule, the European Commission’s chief trade enforcement officer said this week, making it “very difficult” for EU officials to negotiate lifting the restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is facing a backlog of export license applications and a barrage of questions from industry after applications were put on hold earlier this month, although the agency hopes to see processing slowly return to normal as political appointees are put in place, Export Compliance Daily has learned.
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Companies in the Czech Republic plan to ask the Bureau of Industry and Security to loosen restrictions on U.S. exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips that were put in place as part of a BIS rule in January that tightened controls for nations around the world.
Former President Joe Biden's administration made the most “aggressive and far-reaching use” of trade tools of any U.S. administration in history, and the new Trump administration is on track to “wield these tools in an even more aggressive manner,” Gibson Dunn said in a 2024 international trade recap released this month. Although the Treasury Department under Biden imposed sanctions at a faster rate than any of his predecessors, the law firm noted that President Donald Trump favors tariffs, which could cause the targets of those tariffs, including U.S. trading partners in Europe and Asia, to deploy similar tools “either in retaliation against U.S. measures or in pursuit of their own strategic interests.”
Although the new administration appears to be gearing up to build on U.S. outbound investment restrictions against China, President Donald Trump’s affinity toward dealmaking means that tighter rules aren’t a guarantee, an analyst said. Other analysts said the U.S. will face challenges trying to convince its allies in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, to also impose restrictions on outbound deals in China.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has paused reviews of new export license applications submitted this month, without explanation, causing concern and frustration among exporters and trade compliance officials.
Japan has asked the Trump administration to exempt it from new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoji Muto said during a Feb. 12 press conference.
The U.S. needs to expand its export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment to focus on "foundational" chips and not just advanced ones, policy analyst Dmitri Alperovitch said.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China criticized California-based Lam Research Feb. 10 for not providing documents the panel requested as part of its ongoing investigation on firms that sell semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.