In his weekly news conference, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian reiterated China's refusal to engage in nuclear nonproliferation discussions in light of arms sales to Taipei.    "This has seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continuing the arms control consultations. Consequently, the Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation," he stated.

While not directly naming China, G7 trade ministers pledged Thursday to use their trade tools when needed to counter trade-distorting trade practices. “We will continue to tackle non-market policies and practices, as well as harmful non-market excess capacity and other market distortions resulting from them,” G7 trade ministers said in a joint statement wrapping up their two-day meeting in Italy. The ministers' statement emphasized a commitment to the role of, and reform of the World Trade Organization, as well as placed a particular emphasis on Export Control & Investment Screening

Stating "We will be a nation of Truth, Justice, and Common Sense," the Republican party platform adopted by the Milwaukee Convention goes beyond calls to "deport the millions of illegal Migrants who Joe Biden has deliberately encouraged to invade our Country," and "DRILL, BABY, DRILL," with specific policy recommendations for industry and trade.

The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023, according to the most recent SIPRI Yearbook.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced his intention to renew the House Select Committee on the CCP for the 119th Congress, according to a Committee announcement.   The 119th Congress will convene in January 2025.

The Department of the Treasury, as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would expand CFIUS’s jurisdiction over certain transactions by foreign persons involving real estate in the United States. This proposed rule would add over 50 military installations, across 30 states, to the existing list of installations around which CFIUS has jurisdiction, including over land purchases.

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson repeaded the Treasury's call for bankers to maintain correspondent relationships abroad, and reverse the wholesale cessation of such arrangements for administrative compliance expediency which has been taking place.   "We share the concerns that Pacific Island countries are experiencing among the most serious declines in correspondent banking relationships in the world," he noted. "These terminations of correspondent banking relationships can be calamitous, given that many Pacific Island countries receive approximately 10 percent of their collective GDP in the form of personal remittances.

The volume of world merchandise trade turned up in the first quarter of 2024 after remaining flat throughout 2023, according to the latest trade statistics released by the WTO. Merchandise trade …

The Treasury Department's Office of Investment Security formally published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Outbound Investment Rule announced June 21st.   Written comments must be received by August 4, 2024.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued its OFAC Guidance: Production Submission Standards, updating OFAC’s former data delivery standards. This guidance provides technical and general guidance to persons submitting material to OFAC and applies primarily to persons providing responses to administrative subpoenas, requests for information, disclosures, and especially for submissions that may entail voluminous documentation (e.g., more than 100 pages).

A United Nations report released on Wednesday revealed that Chinese companies and academic institutions own the largest number of patents for generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, from the last decade – six times more than the United States, which placed second.Not only does it make up for nearly 70 per cent of patents, with Tencent, Ping An Insurance and Baidu leading globally, but it has published the highest number of scientific articles on GenAI between 2010 and 2023.

House Republicans’ proposed cuts to the Commerce Department’s fiscal year 2025 budget will undermine the department’s efforts to fight China’s attempts to illegally obtain US …

While Hanoi's red carpet treatement for longtime ally Valdimir Putin spurs consternation in Washington, economic statecraft with the country's largest trading partner continues apace.  Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez met with counterparts at the first-ever 2024 U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) Economic Dialogue in Washington Tuesday

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council precedent, which required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of laws during rulemaking. Friday's decision, made with a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, reduces the authority of executive agencies and raises questions about future regulatory actions across the administrative state..

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a proposed rule to strengthen and modernize financial institutions’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs.  While financial institutions have long maintained AML/CFT programs under existing regulations, Friday's  proposed rule would amend those regulations to explicitly require that such programs be effective, risk-based, and reasonably designed, enabling financial institutions to focus their resources and attention in a manner consistent with their risk profiles. 

The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved a $50 million financing package to small business ESS Inc. under the Make More in America (MMIA) Initiative to finance the construction of several new long-duration battery storage production lines at ESS Tech’s Wilsonville, Oregon facility.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published its first quarterly update of the boycott Requester List. This list notifies companies, financial institutions, freight forwarders, individuals, and other U.S. persons of potential sources of certain boycott-related requests they may receive during the regular course of business. The updated public list of entities who have been identified as having made a boycott-related request in reports received by BIS includes 57 additions. BIS has also removed 127 entities.

After 20 years of lackluster results building commercial vessels for Jones Act trade, Norwegian investment group Aker ASA is selling its Philadelphia shipbuilding operations to Korea's Hanwa Group for $100 million. Philly Shipyard supplies around 50% of the largest U.S. commercial vessels, including tankers and container ships. In addition, Philly Shipyard constructs training vessels for the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).  

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco traveled to Brussels last week to lead the U.S. delegation at the U.S.-EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial. The Joint Statement from the Ministerial noted that both sides focused on addressing irregular migration, with a view to fight migrant smuggling and trafficking networks, building on the call to action of the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling launched in November 2023.

The Treasury Department Friday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement Executive Order 14105 of August 9, 2023, “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern”. The NPRM builds on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by Treasury last August and provides the full draft regulations and explanatory discussion regarding the intent of the proposal, and solicits comment from the public