The Bureau of Industry and Security has begun a broad review of new export controls on surveillance technologies going to China, which may also include additions to the agency’s entity list, said acting Commerce Department Undersecretary for Industry and Security Cordell Hull. Hull called the review “comprehensive” and “in-depth,” saying it could lead to controls over advanced surveillance tools, artificial intelligence software and biometric technologies. The effort included a business advisory for companies with supply chains in China’s Xinjiang region and a request for industry feedback on the impact of controls on facial recognition software and other surveillance technology (see 2007170024). “We have put the business community on notice,” Hull told Wednesday's U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hearing. Hull said BIS is pleased with the impact of its export control regime, saying the restrictions hurt China’s ability to source sensitive U.S technologies. “We believe it's working. We believe our entity listings have impacted millions of dollars of items going to these entities,” Hull said. China's embassy in Washington didn't comment Thursday.

A “key thing” about the Trade Act Section 301 tariff exclusions on Chinese goods that have been granted or extended is that most end Dec. 31, Nicole Bivens Collinson, Sandler Travis president-international trade and government relations, told a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar Thursday. If President Donald Trump is reelected, she believes his administration “will view that as a mandate” for eradicating tariff exclusions permanently. As an importer, “I would be looking at January as having tariffs in place without any exclusions,” she said. If U.S.-China relations further deteriorate, Collinson fears the 7.5% List 4A tariffs will increase to 25%, she said. “We also have a List 4B that has no tariffs on them right now. That could change as well." The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country wasn't “strong-armed” by the U.S. into recent actions against Beijing, saying the U.K. shares many of the same policy goals as the U.S. Instead, Raab said recent U.S. restrictions against Huawei and Chinese officials factored into U.K. policymaking. His country recently announced it's banning Huawei from its 5G network (see 2007140023). “The reality is as a result of U.S. sanctions, we’ve, of course, got to look with a clear-sighted perspective at what that means,” Raab told a news conference Tuesday in London with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The U.K.’s measures are “reflective" of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson believed was in "the best interests of the” British people, said Pompeo. He said he thinks Britain "made a good decision," not because the U.S. said it was a good decision but because U.K. leadership concluded it was "the right thing to do.”

The U.S. and Congress have a right to know if the administration is spying on people without “express congressional approval” and with weakened surveillance authorities, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote Attorney General William Barr and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe Tuesday. They requested information about how the administration has halted “mass surveillance programs authorized by now-expired Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provisions under the USA FREEDOM Act” (see 2005270051). “Any surveillance conducted in the absence of statutory authorities and congressional oversight would be extraordinarily concerning and illegal,” they wrote. DOJ didn’t comment.

Samsung is gearing up for Galaxy Unpacked, its annual summer mobile launch event. The Aug. 5 reveal is the first to be broadcast live from South Korea. New York was Samsung's pre-COVID locale of choice for such events. Innovation, collaboration and mobile agility are Samsung's top priorities in the new era it's calling the “Next Normal,” blogged Mobile Communications Business President TM Roh Monday. He cited roles mobile tech has played during the pandemic in distance learning, at-home fitness and online concerts. Samsung plans to bow five new “power devices” next month, said the executive, referencing handsets, hearables and wrist-worn products. Next-generation mobile solutions will have features that improve video-chat technology and help frontline workers “stay safe on the job,” he said. Roh referenced more personal, intelligent, useful and secure technology and a next-generation of foldable phones. The “wide range” of Galaxy 5G devices, available in more markets, will enable experiences “we can’t even imagine yet.” Samsung is continuing to collaborate with partners Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify, and expanded its relationship with Microsoft so Galaxy smartphones and Windows PCs can share messages, photos and calendar reminders in real time, Roh said. Samsung will expand the Microsoft relationship through a gaming partnership with Xbox, he said.

China has no ambitions to “challenge or replace the U.S.” as the world’s preeminent superpower, contrary to Attorney General William Barr’s allegations that it’s waging an “economic blitzkrieg” to achieve that goal (see 2007160042), said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. “Some in the U.S., driven by ideological bias, have been sparing no effort to paint China as a rival or even adversary,” she said. “Attacking China is their panacea to deal with every domestic political issue. The world has already seen through the U.S. playbook of fabricating narratives to deflect attention.” Concluded the spokesperson: “Possessed by such evil, they are on the brink of losing their mind.” The White House didn't comment.

China is conducting an “economic blitzkrieg” to surpass the U.S. as the “world’s preeminent superpower,” Attorney General William Barr told a group at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A “centerpiece” of the effort is its Made in China 2025 industrial policy for “domination of high-tech industries like robotics, advanced information technology, aviation, and electric vehicles,” said Barr. “Backed by hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, this initiative poses a real threat to U.S. technological leadership.” It defies World Trade Organization rules prohibiting quotas for domestic output, he said. It sets targets for domestic market share as high as 70% “in core components and basic materials for industries such as robotics and telecommunications,” he said. It’s clear that China “seeks not merely to join the ranks of other advanced industrial economies, but to replace them altogether,” said Barr. The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry didn’t comment.

The U.K. followed the U.S. lead in banning Huawei equipment on national-security grounds (see 2007140023) “without any solid evidence and under the excuse of non-existent risks,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. The U.K.’s action “blatantly violated” free trade rules and “eroded mutual trust underpinning China-U.K. cooperation,” she said. “China will evaluate this development in a comprehensive and serious manner and take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate and legal rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.” President Donald Trump’s disclosure Tuesday that he personally “convinced many countries” not to use Huawei as a condition for doing business with the U.S. was “further proof that decisions to ban Huawei are not about national security, but political manipulation,” said the spokesperson. Trump's remark “also shows the world that it is not China, but the U.S., that has been intimidating and threatening others and sowing discord all across the world,” she said.

The U.K. government followed the U.S. lead in banning Huawei equipment Tuesday. “The best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UK’s future 5G networks,” Media Secretary Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons: “From the end of this year, telecoms operators must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei.” Dowden conceded the ban will delay the U.K.'s 5G rollout by two years and cost up to $2.5 billion. This “threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide,” Huawei said: "We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK." The announcement is “good news for the safety and security of 5G networks,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted. Others at the FCC agreed. “There is an overwhelming consensus that Huawei is in a position to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise critical communications infrastructure for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The U.K. "has taken a necessary step to safeguard its national security as it builds out advanced networks,” he said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., welcomes "these developments in the UK" and reiterates his hope that the Trump administration "will begin to engage multilaterally with like-minded allies on promoting secure and competitively-priced alternatives to Huawei equipment,” he said Tuesday. “My bipartisan legislation, the United Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act, would be a major step in the right direction and I hope to see it included, fully funded, in the eventual defense authorization act," said Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Spotify expanded into 13 markets, including top-20 market Russia, it said Tuesday. Other new markets are in the region, including Kazakhstan, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The company is in 92 markets worldwide.