At a webinar today, Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), discussed various aspects of U.S. export controls as they relate to China.

Earlier this month, trade officials from China and Japan held their first export control dialogue after a communication mechanism was first created last fall. But a new proposal in Japan that is currently under consideration will test the functionality of the mechanism.

With China's new export controls on graphite entering into force last December, data shows that the controls have had a significant impact on exports of natural graphite that had not been subject to export controls in the past. By contrast, the impact of the controls on artificial graphite

Last month, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the Commerce Department added thirteen Chinese companies to its "unverified list," but one of these companies, Plexus (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., was able to get itself removed from that list.

At today's press conference, the spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) commented on recent developments in trade relations with Taiwan, the anti-dumping investigation on EU brandy, and Western export controls on semiconductor equipment.

On December 21, China's Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology released an updated control list of technologies for which exports are banned or subject to licensing requirements, covering technologies related to rare earth, laser radar, drones, and cybersecurity.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo arguing that the Biden administration should blacklist Chinese company Brite Semiconductor and "tighten its inadequate export controls on American chip-design software."