Ethiopia cracks down on gay sex in hotels, other venues

Reuters
Updated Thu, August 10, 2023

A general view of the skyline of Addis Ababa

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Security forces in Ethiopia are cracking down on hotels, bars and restaurants in the capital Addis Ababa where gay sexual activity is alleged to take place, the city administration said on Thursday.

Several African countries that criminalise homosexuality have enforced the law more harshly in recent years, with many governments proposing stricter laws and sentences, including most recently in Ghana and Uganda.

Rights groups say the LGBT community in Ethiopia remains underground because LGBT people face high levels of discrimination and fear violence and ostracism if their identities are discovered.

The Addis Ababa Peace and Security Administration Bureau, a government body, said it was taking action "against institutions where homosexual acts are carried out" following tip-offs from the public, and had already raided a guest house in the city.

"If there is any sympathy for those who commit and execute this abominable act that is hated by man and God, (the bureau) will continue to take action," the city administration said in a post on Facebook.

Gay sex is prohibited by law in Ethiopia, but there are no recent reports of people being convicted for engaging in consensual same-sex sexual activity.

Earlier this week an LGBT advocacy group, the House of Guramayle, said it condemned a recent escalation in attacks on individuals in Ethiopia based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

(This story has been corrected to change sourcing from Ethiopia News Agency to Addis Ababa Peace and Security Administration Bureau in paragraphs 1, 4 and 5)

(Reporting by Tiksa Negeri, Writing by Hereward Holland, Editing by William Maclean)

LGBTQ+ people in Ethiopia blame attacks on their community on inciteful and lingering TikTok videos

Thu, August 10, 2023

Secret service agents watch through their binoculars as a rainbow appears in the sky before President Barack Obama arrived at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 26, 2015. Members of Ethiopia’s LGBTQ+ community say they face a wave of online harassment and physical attacks and blame much of it on the social media platform TikTok, which they say is failing to take down posts calling for homosexual and transgender people to be whipped, stabbed and killed. 

AP Photo/Sayyid Azim

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Members of Ethiopia’s LGBTQ+ community say they face a wave of online harassment and physical attacks and blame much of it on the social media platform TikTok, which they say is failing to take down posts calling for homosexual and transgender people to be whipped, stabbed and killed.

A local LGBTQ+ support group, House of Guramayle, said that some TikTok users are also outing Ethiopians by sharing their names, photographs and online profiles on one of the country’s most popular social media platforms.

In Ethiopia, homosexual acts are punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The East African country whose population of close to 120 million is split between Christianity and Islam is largely conservative, and while LGBTQ+ people have long suffered abuse, activists say the hostility has reached a new level.

“TikTok is being used to incite violence,” said Bahiru Shewaye, co-founder of House of Guramayle. Bahiru said several videos have been reported to TikTok but “we are still waiting for them to take action.”

TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.

The AP on Thursday reviewed several videos that appeared to violate TikTok’s community guidelines by inciting violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In one video, a popular evangelical Christian pastor calls for gay people to be stripped naked and publicly whipped.

“Then (gay) people all over the world would say, 'Oh, these (Ethiopian) people, this is what they do to gays, therefore we will not go to that country,'” says the pastor, whose account has over 250,000 followers. The video was posted on Aug. 5.

In another video posted Aug. 2, a TikTok user calls for gay men to be stabbed in the buttocks. In a third, posted in the past week, a young man says, “We should find them and kill them,” before making a stomping gesture with his foot.

The videos are in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main language.

It’s not clear what sparked the videos, but Bahiru said Uganda’s new anti-LGBT law that prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” is playing a role.

LGBTQ+ Ethiopians said the surge of abusive content has left them feeling unsafe, with several fleeing abroad in recent weeks. One nonbinary person said they are now in neighboring Kenya after they were attacked by a group of men in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, last month.

“It is very terrifying, to be honest,” they said. “I think I will stay here as long as the situation continues in Ethiopia. … It has always been bad, but this time it feels different.”

Another LGBTQ+ man, a student in Addis Ababa, said he has been outed twice on TikTok. In May, shortly after the first outing video appeared online, he was badly beaten at a restaurant by a group of classmates, who fractured his cheek.

“I don’t feel safe at school after that, so I stopped going,” he said.

The second outing video appeared in late July and has attracted over 275,000 views. It is a slideshow of individual and group photographs under the banner “Homosexuals live freely in Ethiopia.” The top comment says “Let’s kill them, give us their address.”

The first video has been removed, the student said. The second is still online.

Ethiopian public institutions have been accused of fanning the discrimination. Last week, Addis Ababa’s tourism bureau in a statement posted on Facebook told hotels not to allow “homosexual activities” on their premises and warned “action will be taken” if this happens. The bureau is part of the Addis Ababa city administration.

Soon afterward, the city’s police department launched a hotline for reporting “illegal activities that deviate from the law and social values.”

“This was a vulnerable group in the first place,” Bahiru said. “But the new scale of these calls for violence, it has grown out of control.”

LGBTQ+ advocates have long warned that online hate and harassment can lead to violence offline.

All major social media platforms — including TikTok — do poorly at protecting LGBTQ+ users from hate speech and harassment, especially those who are transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming, the advocacy group GLAAD said in its Social Media Safety Index earlier this year.

Uganda president defiant after World Bank suspends funding over LGBT law

A session of the Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg

Updated Thu, August 10, 2023
By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA (Reuters) -Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday denounced the World Bank's decision to suspend new funding in response to a harsh anti-LGBTQ law and vowed to find alternative sources of credit.

The country would have to revise its budget to absorb the move's potential impact, a junior finance minister said.

The World Bank said on Tuesday that the law, which imposes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, contradicted its values and that it would pause new funding until it could test measures to prevent discrimination in projects it finances.

The World Bank has an existing portfolio of $5.2 billion in Uganda, although these projects will not be affected.


The anti-LGBTQ law, enacted in May, has drawn widespread criticism from local and international rights organisations and Western governments, though it is popular domestically.

Museveni said in a statement that Uganda was trying to reduce borrowing in any case and would not give in to pressure from foreign institutions.

"It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans," he said.

Museveni said that if Uganda needed to borrow, it could tap other sources, and that oil production expected to start by 2025 would provide additional revenues.

He added he hoped the World Bank would reconsider its decision.

The government will ask parliament to vote through a revised 2023-2024 (July-June) budget to reflect the potential financial impact of the lending suspension, junior finance minister Henry Musasizi told parliament on Thursday.

"We shall be coming in one week or so... to ask for your approval," Musasizi told lawmakers.

In June, the United States imposed visa restrictions on some Ugandan officials in response to the law. President Joe Biden also ordered a review of U.S. aid to Uganda.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland, George Obulutsa, Aaron Ross, Bernadette Baum and Tomasz Janowski)

US Halts Import of Rare Cargo of Polish Wheat in Houston

Isis Almeida, Michael Hirtzer and Gerson Freitas Jr.
Fri, August 11, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- The US is holding back a rare cargo of Polish wheat being imported into Houston, a move that may spark tensions with the European Union, according to people familiar with the matter.

The vessel Yochow, carrying about 30,000 tons of Polish wheat, is being prevented from unloading at the port of Houston, according to shipping data and the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Authorities are citing contamination with corn, the people said.

The US is resorting to purchases of European wheat after a drought pushed local prices higher. While there are enough American supplies for the nation’s flour mills, it’s cheaper to bring in grain from Poland than to haul it from the Midwest to places like Texas and Florida.

The rare imports are a blow to US farmers, which have been losing power in the global market for years to top shipper Russia. A final rejection of cargo could spark tensions with the EU. The US has in the past accused other countries of imposing non-tariff barriers to trade when American cargoes were rejected in places like China.

US Customs and Border Protection didn’t provide a comment. The Polish Grain and Feed Chamber didn’t have an immediate comment when contacted by phone, and a European Commission spokesperson declined to comment.

Read More: Drought-Hurt Crops Force US to Resort to Rare Wheat Imports

The Yochow left Poland on July 13 and arrived in Houston on Aug. 6, according to ship-tracking data. EU data shows two cargoes — one carrying about 29,000 tons and another 33,000 tons — sailed from Poland to the US in July.

--With assistance from Megan Durisin, Tarso Veloso and Konrad Krasuski.

(Updates with response from European Commission and Polish chamber in fifth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

TURKEY OUT OF KURDISTAN (IRAQ & SYRIA)

At least 6 Turkish soldiers killed in attacks by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, Ankara says
ROBERT BADENDIECK
Thu, August 10, 2023 

Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Turkey, At least 6 Turkish soldiers killed in attacks by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, Ankara says on Thursday, Aug, 10, 2023. (DHA-Depo Photos via AP, File)

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's defense ministry said on Thursday that a spate of attacks the previous day and overnight by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq killed at least six Turkish soldiers.

The attacks prompted retaliatory airstrikes that left four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, dead on Thursday, according to a social media post shared later by the ministry.

The violence is the latest in a monthslong escalation between Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other.

Ankara considers the PKK — which has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey — and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations. It claims members of the PKK regularly find sanctuary in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

There was no immediate comment from Iraq's central government in Baghdad.

Earlier, authorities in northern Iraq's Kurdish region said two separate Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday in attacks in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province targeting PKK vehicles killed two insurgents and wounded four.

Turkey maintains troops in a border region in Iraq and regularly targets what it says are PKK positions there. Last year, it launched a ground and air operation dubbed Claw-Lock, against the PKK in northern Iraq.

Iraqi security officials said Thursday's airstrikes hit positions north of the city of Duhok. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorities to speak to the media.

Turkish Col. Zeki Akturk vowed to avenge the troops killed.

“Our soldiers will not leave the blood of the martyrs on the ground,” he said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that Turkish forces "will continue their fight against terrorism with the same determination until there is not a single terrorist left.”

Since 1984, the PKK's insurgency within Turkey has killed tens of thousands of people.

___

Associated Press writer reporter Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.

TOOK LONG ENOUGH
California attorney general apologizes for agency's role in WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans

Bryan Ke
Fri, August 11, 2023 



[Source]

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has formally apologized for his office’s past role in forcing over 100,000 Japanese Americans to relocate to incarceration camps during and after World War II.

Key details: Bonta’s office first issued the apology on Wednesday, which was followed by a video by the California attorney general uploaded to Twitter on Thursday.

Bonta’s office’s apology notably came on the 35th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. On Aug. 10, 1998, former President Ronald Reagan signed the law that grants repatriations to surviving Japanese Americans who were interned by the U.S. government.

Bonta’s office’s apology also came three years after California formally apologized for its past actions against Japanese Americans.

More from NextShark: Steven Yeun joins cast of MCU's 'Thunderbolts’

“The forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese American citizens remains among the darkest periods of our history, and the suffering it caused Japanese American families across California is incalculable,” Bonta said.

His office’s initial involvement: Former California Attorney General Earl Warren testified in front of Congress in support of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s implementation of Executive Order 9066, which saw the incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans living in California’s West Coast during World War II.

More from NextShark: GoFundMe Launches Hub for AAPI Fundraising Campaigns to #StopAsianHate

Warren also enforced the California Alien Land Law of 1913, which stopped immigrants from Japan and other Asian countries from purchasing agricultural land in California.

California Attorney General Robert Walker Kenny followed Warren’s footsteps in 1943 by creating a special unit within his office to enforce the land law. Kenny’s office also joined Oregon and Washington in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court that supported the incarceration of civil rights hero Fred Korematsu.

Addressing the past horrors: Bonta also noted that while what happened can never be erased, “we must take steps to atone for past wrongs by answering the call for accountability, truth and reconciliation, racial healing and transformation.”

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“The California Attorney General’s Office deeply regrets its past complicity in these heinous violations of civil rights, and with this apology, recommits to its mission of protecting and defending civil liberties for all Americans,” he continued.

ABOLISH SEDITION LAWS
India moves to replace British colonial-era sedition law with its own version

ASHOK SHARMA
Updated Fri, August 11, 2023

FILE-A woman holds a placard protesting against the sedition case filed by police against a school after a play performed by students denouncing a new citizenship law, in Bangalore, India, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. India's government on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, introduced a bill in Parliament that seeks to replace a British colonial-era law dealing with sedition charges with its own version. 

AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, 

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s government proposed legislation Friday in Parliament that seeks to replace a British colonial-era sedition law with its own version.

The government also submitted a bill that it said would better protect women and children by providing greater punishments for sexual crimes.

Britain's rulers in India imposed a law against sedition — actions aimed at encouraging people to be or act against a government — in 1860 to repress freedom fighters. India won independence from the British colonialists in 1947, but continued to use the law.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics accused his government of using sedition charges to label dissenting citizens as disloyal toward the country. A conviction carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Home Minister Amit Shah said Friday that the bill submitted to India's lawmakers would repeal the British offense of sedition and introduce a new provision.

Chitranshul Sinha, a legal expert, said the government's proposed provision would punish “acts endangering sovereignty unity and integrity of India.” It carries prison sentence range of seven years to life.

"It doesn’t get rid of the British-era law. They (the government) have rearranged the provision,’’ Sinha said.

"It’s just a change of name. Essentially, nothing has changed,” he said. said.

The bill intended to protect women better would make sexual exploitation on the pretext of marriage, employment or promotion, or through the use of a hidden identity, a crime.

The legislation would make a gang rape conviction punishable by a maximum life sentence. imprisonment. Raping a child would be eligible for a death sentence, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The bill also would allow penalties ranging from seven years in prison to death for mob lynching.

“I can assure the House (Parliament) that these bills will transform our criminal justice system. Punishment will be given to create a sentiment of stopping crime,” Shah said.

The two houses of India's Parliament are expected to consider the two bills later this year.

Siemens Gamesa has fix for onshore wind turbine problem

Reuters
Fri, August 11, 2023

 Siemens Gamesa logo

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Siemens Energy has fixed quality issues at onshore wind turbines it is currently selling to customers, the CEO of the group's wind division Siemens Gamesa said on Friday, adding the group had made progress with its turnaround.

The comments by Jochen Eickholt come after Siemens Energy this week unveiled 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in charges related to its wind division, a major setback for the group that has drawn the ire of top shareholder Siemens AG.

Of those charges, 1.6 billion euros are earmarked for quality issues around rotor blades and gears for its latest onshore turbine models, the 4.X and 5.X, of which roughly 2,900 are in the field.

"Although I am very disappointed that we are experiencing these issues, it's worth mentioning that the variants of the 4.X and 5.X onshore wind turbines that we are currently selling to our customers have already been modified," Eickholt said in a LinkedIn Post.

"In other words, the identified problems have been addressed and it is now a matter of rectifying them in the respective wind turbines that are already in the field."

Eickholt pointed out that Siemens Gamesa had raised prices, reduced damage liabilities and become more selective over new projects to raise profitability.

While conceding the group's "current situation is self-inflicted", he said market conditions were unfavourable for wind turbine makers, many of which have been struggling with losses in the wake of rising inflation.

($1 = 0.9095 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz Editing by Friederike Heine and Mark Potter)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

US set to carry out long-awaited crackdown on luxury-home money laundering

Luc Cohen and Chris Prentice
Thu, August 10, 2023

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The U.S. Treasury Department will soon propose a rule that would effectively end anonymous luxury-home purchases, closing a loophole that the agency says allows corrupt oligarchs, terrorists and other criminals to hide ill-gotten gains.

The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

FinCEN is slated to propose the rule sometime this month, according to its regulatory agenda, though the timeline could slip, said two people briefed on the developments. Anti-corruption advocates and lawmakers have been pushing for the rule, which will replace the current patchwork reporting system.

Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in March, adding that as much as $2.3 billion was laundered through U.S. real estate between 2015 and 2020.

"That's why FinCEN is taking this important step to put something officially on the books that would root out money laundering through the sector once and for all," said Erica Hanichak, government affairs director of advocacy group the FACT Coalition.

Some advocates say FinCEN, which declined to comment on the timing of the proposal, has moved too slowly. Officials first said in 2021 that they planned to implement the rule.

FinCEN has been struggling to complete a related rule that would unmask shell company owners. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has pressed FinCEN to tighten up that proposal, according to an April public letter. That debate has slowed down FinCEN's work on the real estate reporting rule, one of the sources said.

The American Land Title Association, which represents title insurers, says it welcomes the new rule but that FinCEN should delay it until the shell company rule is completed.

The proposed rule will be open to public and industry feedback.

Patchwork

While banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry.

Instead, FinCEN has operated real-estate purchase disclosure rules, known as geographic targeting orders (GTOs), in just a handful of cities including New York, Miami and Los Angeles. The new rule is expected to effectively expand GTOs nationwide.

FinCEN implemented GTOs in 2016 after the New York Times revealed that nearly half of luxury real estate was bought by anonymous shell companies.

But the orders are easy to skirt by simply buying property outside the targeted areas, said Jodi Vittori, an expert on illicit finance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Transparency advocates pushing for a nationwide rule point to the example of Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese businessman who, according to prosecutors, used an anonymous shell company to channel illicit profit from a fraud scheme into the $26 million purchase of a 50,000-square-foot New Jersey mansion in December 2021.

Billionaire businessman Guo Wengui speaks during an interview in New York

Had Guo brought property across the Hudson River in Manhattan, it would have been subject to a GTO and likely flagged immediately to law enforcement.

Guo, a onetime business partner of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. His lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.

A FinCEN spokesperson said GTO reports provide valuable data.

Howard Master, a formal federal prosecutor, said law enforcement uses them to generate leads, but mainly to learn more about assets owned by individuals already under investigation.

"It'll identify an asset that is beneficially owned by someone that you might not otherwise have known about," said Master, now a partner at investigations firm Nardello & Co.

A 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, found that nearly 7% of GTO reports identified individuals or entities connected to ongoing FBI cases. But the same report highlighted concerns about the ability of FinCEN, which has complained of chronic underfunding, to police the program.

For the new rule to be effective, FinCEN will need more enforcement resources, said David Szakonyi, a political science professor at George Washington University.

"FinCEN needs more people and more computers to process the information."

(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Amy Stevens, Michelle Price and Matthew Lewis)

POST MODERN FORDISM

BYD calls on China automakers to unite, 'demolish the old' in global push

Reuters
Fri, August 11, 2023 



Auto Shanghai show, in Shanghai

(Reuters) - A patriotic call by China's bestselling automaker to band the industry together and "demolish the old legends" of the global market has gone viral, drawing both raves and a rebuke from a rival.

BYD used an event this week to mark a production milestone to celebrate a bigger purpose: the emergence of China as a global auto manufacturing powerhouse.

"I believe the time has come for Chinese brands," BYD founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu said at the event, standing in front of an image of the logos of 12 major Chinese automakers.

"It's an emotional need for the 1.4 billion Chinese people to see a Chinese brand becoming global."

The call by BYD – Tesla's closest rival in the global electric vehicle sales race – prompted widespread praise, and underscored how China's automakers are riven by competition at home and chasing growth overseas.

China's automakers are locked in a bruising price war that was started by Tesla in January and which shows no signs of easing. They are also all competing in the same global markets, where they face consumer wariness and sometimes regulatory roadblocks.

At its event on Wednesday, BYD released a video marking the founding of a dozen rivals from state-run automaker FAW Group in 1956 to commercial EV startups Xpeng, Nio and Li Auto in the past decade.

The video shows historical footage, sweeping vistas and cars being loaded for export. "Our stories are different from each other but share the same direction," the narrator says, adding in reference to overseas markets: "There's no distinction between 'you' and 'me'."

It ends with a call for China's automakers to "demolish the old legends and achieve new world-class brands," under the slogan, "Chinese Autos".

"FACE THE REALITY OF COMPETITION"

The video went viral on Chinese social media. Executives from BYD's rivals posted notes of appreciation. "I feel proud for China’s auto industry!" said William Li, CEO of Nio on Weibo. "We should learn from BYD's success."

"Salute to BYD!" said Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, who reposted the BYD video. "Let's give a thumbs up to every participant in the new energy era!"

Other automakers warned the message could raise regulatory risks for Chinese brands overseas, including in Europe, where Chinese EV exports face potential anti-dumping scrutiny.

A senior executive of China's Great Wall Motor shot back that Chinese automakers should embrace the "reality of competition".

"At such a critical moment, how can Chinese automakers be together?" Wang Yuanli, Great Wall Motor's Chief Technology Officer, posted on his social media Weibo account on Friday. "If we only talk about being together but keep our bitterness in our hearts, it would be better to have the fight first."

Wang said later he had been quoting a senior editor from China's Auto Business Review.

In July, the industry group representing China's automakers retracted a pledge to avoid "abnormal pricing" brokered between 16 automakers, including BYD. The China Association of Auto Manufacturers said it recognized the agreement had violated China's antitrust law.

In May, Great Wall said it had filed a report with China's regulators against BYD, claiming two top-selling hybrid models did not meet emissions standards. BYD rejected the claim and said it could take legal action.

BYD has extended its lead in China's new-energy market, which includes plug-in hybrids and EVs, with a 37% share in the first seven months, up from 29% a year earlier. It also topped Volkswagen brand, China's longtime sales leader, in total sales.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh, editing by Kevin Krolicki and Miral Fahmy)

Biden Escalates Trade War With China

Eric Boehm
Wed, August 9, 2023

Sarah Silbiger - Pool via CNP / MEGA / Newscom/RSSIL/Newscom

The Biden administration escalated America's trade war with China on Wednesday, as President Joe Biden declared a new national emergency and immediately used it as the justification for creating a new screening system that will limit Americans' ability to invest overseas.

The new rules, which have been in development since last year, will prohibit private equity and venture capital firms from investing in China-based businesses working in a variety of high-tech fields, The New York Times reports. The ban will apply to businesses working to develop artificial intelligence and those that build or develop semiconductors, the tiny chips that power modern computers. American investments that flow to other Chinese businesses will also be subject to new government scrutiny.

All of that springs from a vaguely worded executive order issued Wednesday afternoon. In that order, Biden declared the "rapid advancement in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence capabilities" by "countries of concern"—China is not mentioned by name—to be a national emergency. In response to the newly declared national emergency, Biden directed the Commerce Department and Treasury to design new rules governing outbound investments.

Congress, of course, will not be involved in the process.

"This narrowly targeted action will complement our existing export control and inbound investment screening tools, and protect our national security while maintaining our longstanding commitment to open investment," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Narrow or not, this is the first time that the U.S. government has targeted outgoing investments in such a manner. As I reported in a feature published in this month's issue of Reason, the effort appears to be modeled on a similar screening system for inbound investments that was created in the 1970s and recently given greater powers. Biden administration officials, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have in recent months talked about the desire to limit how private sector investments flow between the U.S. and China—often blurring the lines between economic and military concerns.

The idea to create an outbound investment screening mechanism, Yellen said in a speech in April, was "driven by straightforward national security considerations. We will not compromise on these concerns, even when they force tradeoffs with our economic interests."

Biden's executive order echoed that framing—acknowledging the importance of global trade, but then declaring that vague national security concerns must be valued as more important. "Open global capital flows create valuable economic opportunities and promote competitiveness, innovation, and productivity, and the United States supports cross-border investment, where not inconsistent with the protection of United States national security interests," the president wrote. "However, certain United States investments may accelerate and increase the success of the development of sensitive technologies and products in countries that develop them to counter United States and allied capabilities."

Wednesday's announcement by the White House is a significant expansion of what the U.S. government considers to be under the purview of national security. It is in some ways similar to how former President Donald Trump flexed his executive power to declare steel and aluminum imports to be national security concerns. In both cases, the government's definition of what's in America's national security interest has been stretched wider so officials can have greater control over the private transactions of businesses and individuals.

"For a long time, the U.S. national security community has been reticent to recognize the international financial system as a potential warfighting domain," Claire Chu, a senior China analyst at Janes (a defense intelligence company) told The New York Times on Wednesday. "And the business community has pushed back against what it considers to be the politicization of private markets. And so this is not only an interagency effort, but an exercise in intersectoral coordination."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other entities have raised similar worries, as I reported in the piece for this month's issue of Reason. There are only two other countries—South Korea and Taiwan—that have outbound investment screening systems, making Wednesday's announcement yet another blow to the global norm of free-flowing capital.

Though the specifics of the outbound investment screening system remain to be seen, there's no doubt that Wednesday's announcement is a significant escalation of the ongoing political conflict between the world's two largest economies. It is likely to end up being a massive power grab aimed at severing the peaceful exchange of money and goods across national borders.

The post Biden Escalates Trade War With China appeared first on Reason.com.

CARROT

US reports big interest in $52 billion semiconductor chips funding

David Shepardson
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Illustration picture of semiconductor chips

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday that more than 460 companies have expressed interested in winning government semiconductor subsidy funding in a bid to boost the country's competitiveness with China's science and technology efforts.

The White House is marking the one-year anniversary on Wednesday of President Joe Biden's signing of the landmark "Chips for America" legislation providing $52.7 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production, research and workforce development.

Biden said in a statement that companies have announced $166 billion in semiconductors and electronics manufacturing over the last year, adding the law will "make America once again a leader in semiconductor manufacturing and less dependent on other countries for our electronics or clean energy supply chains."

The Commerce Department began accepting applications in June for the $39-billion subsidy program for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing as well as equipment and materials for making chips but has not yet issued awards.

"We're finally making the investments that are long overdue to secure our economic and national security," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters. "We need to move quickly but it's more important we get it right."

A senior Commerce Department official told reporters the department is moving quickly: "We are in active dialogue with applicants and we expect to be announcing major progress in the months ahead."

The chips law also includes a 25% investment tax credit for building chip plants, estimated to be worth $24 billion.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said Tuesday "governments around the world are working at a historic pace to revitalize semiconductor manufacturing and ensure a robust, resilient supply chain. In the U.S., progress is undeniable."

The Commerce Department spent the last year building a team of more than 140 people and writing rules for accepting and assessing applications.

The department is also seeking to ensure China will not benefit from U.S. funding and is requiring companies seeking major awards provide access to affordable high-quality childcare and share any excess profits.

The department previously said direct funding awards are expected to range between 5%-15% of project capital expenditures and total award amounts generally not exceed 35% of project capital expenditures.

"We're going to be doing our own diligence. We're not writing blank checks to any company that asks," Raimondo said in February.

Once the Commerce Department decides on worthy projects, officials must decide how much to award in government funds -- and how to structure awards with a mix of grants, government loans or loan guarantees.

The law also dedicates $11 billion for advanced semiconductor manufacturing research and development. The focal point will be the National Semiconductor Technology Center.

Commerce said that discussions are underway between the departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, and National Science Foundation to establish the center "to better integrate research and development and workforce efforts across the semiconductor ecosystem." No location has been identified.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)