If the U.S. establishes an outbound investment screening mechanism, it could struggle to coordinate the measure with the EU and possibly other partners, experts said. Nargiza Salidjanova, director of the Rhodium Group’s China practice, said the proposal being considered by Congress may be too broad for the EU.

The U.S. this week announced a host of new sanctions targeting Russia’s defense industrial base, including export restrictions against entities helping Moscow evade U.S. export controls and new financial sanctions targeting state-owned companies. The sanctions target more than 100 entities and 50 people supporting Russia’s defense industry and add 36 entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, including six for supporting Russia’s military.

The Commerce Department published its spring 2022 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including two new mentions of rules that could result in new emerging technology export controls.

The U.S. and other G-7 member states plan to soon announce a host of new sanctions and trade restrictions against Russia, including new restrictions targeting Russia’s industrial and technology sectors. The countries also plan to announce enforcement actions relating to Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts, which will include new additions to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.

The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by a week a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced June 24. The ports had planned to begin imposing the fee in November 2021 but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until July 1.

A bipartisan group of senators last week introduced a bill that could place new controls on certain exports of U.S. personal data to foreign companies and governments. The Protecting Americans’ Data From Foreign Surveillance Act would require the Commerce Department, along with other agencies, to identify “categories of personal data” that could harm U.S. national security if they were exported, and to place export restrictions on those items.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on June 24 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Belarus. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Nordwind Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and Siberian Airlines, BIS said, banning all three airlines from participating in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations.

There isn’t a “coherent” strategy among the various bills in Congress to address international technology competition, said Jon Bateman, a technology policy expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Bateman, speaking during a June 23 event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine, said the lack of coherence isn’t “altogether surprising, partly because the government is “classically plagued with coherence problems.”

It’s still too early to regulate quantum technologies through export controls and other means, two tech industry officials said during an event this week hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Although the Commerce Department is studying new export controls on certain slices of quantum technologies, strict regulations risk hurting American competitiveness, the officials said.

The U.S. and the EU said they have made progress convincing other countries not to impose export restrictions on critical food supplies after an initial spike in the measures due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But leaders are still struggling to help Ukraine export its food supplies to the rest of the world, officials said, and they don’t expect that issue to be resolved anytime soon.