By Karen Freifeld
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese memory chip maker YMTC and dozens of other Chinese entities are “at risk” of being added to a trade blacklist as soon as Dec. 6, a U.S. Commerce Department official said in prepared remarks seen by Reuters.
On Oct. 6, 31 companies were added to a list of companies that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing and starting a 60 day-clock that could trigger the tougher penalties.
Under a new policy put in place the same day, if a government prevents U.S. officials from conducting site checks at companies placed the unverified list, Washington could start the process for adding them to the entity list after 60 days.
In remarks prepared for delivery at a Society for International Affairs event on Monday, Assistant Secretary for
Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod confirmed that the new measure applies to YMTC, 30 other Chinese companies as well as the 50 other companies previously on the list.
Those companies “are now at risk of moving to the Entity List as soon as December 6… if we are unable to complete an end-use check by then,” according to his prepared remarks.
Once a company is added to the entity list, its U.S. suppliers must seek a special license to ship to it.
(Writing by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
