U.S. Energy Department warns staff to avoid foreign recruitment programs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department on Friday told staff they are banned from taking part in foreign recruitment programs as the agency seeks to stop China and other countries from illegally acquiring sensitive research in supercomputing and other technologies. Dan Brouillette, the Energy Department’s deputy secretary, said in a memo the agency that recruitment programs sponsored by certain countries “threaten the United States’ economic base by facilitating the unauthorized transfer of technology and intellectual property to foreign governments.”

Potential recruits are offered prestigious positions at foreign research institutes, labs and universities, it said. Employees will have to leave the department if they participate in recruitment programs from countries it determines to be “sensitive,” the memo said. The Energy Department oversees a network of 17 national labs that work on sensitive issues including advanced nuclear energy, nuclear weapons and supercomputing, some of which is classified.

The memo, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, did not name specific countries, but successive U.S. administrations, including that of President Donald Trump, have been concerned about China obtaining U.S. intellectual property. A Department of Energy official said on condition of anonymity that the administration was not specifically targeting China, and that the initiative could help the agency learn more about which foreign programs have been seeking to recruit department employees. “It gives employees a chance to disclose that information,” the official said. “It’s basically giving them the chance to say, ‘OK I want to be paid by DOE or I want to be paid by this outside, state-funded initiative’.” Some foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment programs “have taken advantage of America’s openness to collaboration to infiltrate our labs, steal our technology and use our own resources against us,” a DOE press official said. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-energy-tech/u-s-energy-department-warns-staff-to-avoid-foreign-recruitment-programs-idUSKCN1PQ5ZC?il=0

Democratic lawmaker re-introduces bills to strengthen antitrust

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, said on Friday that she had re-introduced two bills aimed at strengthening enforcement of U.S. antitrust law. One of the bills would adjust fees paid to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department’s Antitrust Division for merger reviews, raising fees on bigger deals while smaller deals would pay less. Klobuchar also introduced a bill to toughen standards for reviewing mergers. Under that bill, companies planning some large mergers would be required to show that their deal would not materially harm competition. Under current law, it is the government which must show that the deal would “substantially” harm competition. The first bill was co-sponsored by Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin, Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Dick Durbin, Mazie Hirono, Patrick Leahy and Ed Markey, as well as independent Angus King, Klobuchar’s office said in a statement. The second bill was also co-sponsored by Blumenthal, Booker and Markey.

The bill that would adjust fees has the support of Makan Delrahim, head of the antitrust division, and FTC Chairman Joe Simons, whose agencies reviews deals - many valued at over $1 billion - to ensure they are legal under antitrust law. Both men were appointed by President Donald Trump. The Justice Department is awaiting an appeals court decision on its bid to stop AT&T from buying Time Warner and is reviewing a planned merger by T-Mobile and Sprint, which would reduce the number of national wireless carriers from four to three. The FTC is looking at a merger of dialysis companies Fresenius Medical Care and NxStage Medical Inc, as well as Altria Group’s investment in vaping company Juul Labs Inc.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-antitrust/democratic-lawmaker-re-introduces-bills-to-strengthen-antitrust-idUSKCN1PQ5V9?il=0

China Buys US Soybeans a Day After Trade Talks, Traders Say

Chinese state-owned firms bought at least 1 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans on Feb. 1, a day after high-level bilateral talks yielded progress toward a trade deal and a Chinese commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans. The purchases are slated for shipment between April and July, with a large share expected from U.S. Gulf Coast export terminals, three traders with knowledge of the deals said. One trader with direct knowledge of the deals said total purchases were around 2.2 million tonnes. The other two traders said the sales were similar to three recent waves of buying in which state-owned firms booked 1 million to 1.5 million tonnes of soybeans. U.S. soybean futures rallied to multi-month highs on Friday on news of renewed demand from the world’s top importer.

But the market’s gains were restrained by worries that Chinese purchases will hardly dent massive soybean stockpiles in the United States and around the world. The looming harvest of a large soy crop in Brazil, the world’s top supplier, further capped prices. “It certainly is good to see some concessions and more buying interest from China, but this is a concession in terms of a larger trade agreement. Brazilian offers are cheaper than we are so it’s just part of the negotiation,” said Terry Linn, analyst with Chicago-based brokerage Linn & Associates. Friday’s purchases by state-owned firms were believed to be destined for China’s state reserves, and thus immune from high import tariffs on U.S. beans. The 25 percent tariffs, imposed last summer in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, remain in place for U.S. soy imports by commercial crushers in China.

Exports to China have plummeted this season during a bitter trade dispute, with swelling supplies sending prices to near decade lows last autumn. China has been buying most of its soybeans from Brazil, which is in pace to harvest a bumper crop in the coming months. Friday’s sales bring China’s total purchases of the 2018 U.S. soybean harvest to at least 6.5 million tonnes, a fraction of its traditional annual haul from the United States of more than 30 million tonnes. Through January of 2017, more than 29.4 million tonnes of that season’s harvest had already been shipped to China, with another 4 million tonnes sold and awaiting shipment, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade March futures climbed to $9.31-1/4 a bushel on Friday, the highest point for a most actively traded soy contract since mid-June. Beijing slapped steep tariffs on U.S. soybeans on July 6, effectively halting all U.S. shipments to their top customer. Before Friday’s sales, China had previously booked an estimated 5 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in three waves of purchases since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to a trade war detente on Dec. 1. After high-level trade talks in Washington this week, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He announced on Thursday China would buy an additional 5 million tonnes.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-buys-us-soybeans-a-day-after-trade-talks-traders-say_2787646.html