The 2025 BIS Update Conference on Export Controls and Policy wrapped up last week. Here are three main takeaways:
China is the Priority: The top three U.S. export controls and enforcement priorities for the new administration are China, China and China. In his opening remarks, Commerce Secretary Lutnick was crystal clear in describing the administration’s focus on China as the primary geopolitical and economic adversary for the U.S., and he emphasized that BIS represents “the front line” protecting and defending U.S. core technology. He also signaled that we could expect to see export controls efforts incorporated into trade negotiations, to demonstrate whether trading partners are aligned with U.S. policy. However, Iran was not left out, as subsequent speakers emphasized the impact of the February 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum imposing “maximum pressure” on Iran, and noting, among other things, the evidence of U.S. content in Iranian drones and other weapons recovered from battlefields in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere. Not surprisingly, BIS indicated that policy toward Russia – whether de-escalation or a further escalation – depends on developments in the Ukraine negotiations.
Enforcement Increase: Beginning with Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s opening remarks, officials consistently emphasized that we could expect a “dramatic” increase in enforcement efforts and in the magnitude of fines for violations. BIS continues to stress the importance of compliance efforts, including robust and informed due diligence, and on providing industry feedback to BIS regarding both specific suspicious activities as well as broader trends. The new administration views “a level playing field” as essential to its national defense and trade policies, and is encouraging companies to provide information about questionable conduct by others. For its part, BIS will continue to look for opportunities to describe red flags and promote best practices to help compliance teams at companies. Finally, BIS officials noted that the new administration is getting up to speed and that we can expect the “pause” in licensing to be relaxed and for licensing decisions to begin to be issued in the coming weeks.
International Partners: International cooperation is not extinct, although it may now sometimes come with “America First” packaging. The Day-2 keynote presentation included representatives from the European Commission, Japan and Korea, who, together with their U.S. counterpart, all highlighted shared mission and values, pledged continued cooperation, stressed the practical reality that the most effective export controls initiatives were multilateral, and recognized that gaps in alignment increased the risks of diversion and evasion in ways that undermined each nation’s own interests.
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