U.S. - CHINA NUCLEAR SANCTIONS

REUTERS - The United States is tightening controls on China's imports of civil nuclear technology to prevent use for military or other unauthorized purposes, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday amid increased trade tensions.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on nearly $200 billion of Chinese imports and then threatened more levies if China retaliated. China then hit back with tariffs on about $60 billion of U.S. imports.

Washington announced the nuclear technology controls a day after the U.S. Justice Department said it had arrested and indicted a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security on charges of economic espionage. Chinese operative Xu Yanjun also attempted to steal trade secrets from U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, the department said. China rejected the allegations.

"The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of China's efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of U.S.-China civil nuclear cooperation," U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in a statement.

Beginning last year, the National Security Council led a review of China's efforts to obtain nuclear material, equipment and advanced technology from U.S. companies, government officials said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. The review was prompted by China's accelerated efforts to acquire U.S. intellectual property to the detriment of U.S. businesses and military interests, they said.

The officials said the indictment in 2016 of a Chinese-American nuclear engineer, Allen Ho, was one of the factors that led to the review.

Ho, a naturalized U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to produce "special nuclear material" in China in violation of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act. The state-owned China General Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) was also charged.

The new policy goes into immediate effect, and sets guidelines for reviewing all existing and future technology transfers into China, the officials said. The vast majority of existing technology transfers approved before Jan. 1, 2018 are unlikely to be altered, the officials said.

There will be a presumption of denial to new license applications or extensions to existing authorizations related to the CGNPC, the energy department said. Officials declined to comment on whether China is already using this technology.

The development of nuclear technology to power small reactors in the South China Sea and for submarines and icebreakers are of concern, officials said. They also expressed concern about use of the technology in weapons.

The government is also concerned about diversion for use of technology by other countries, one of the officials said. They declined to comment on the specifics of these concerns.

U.S. nuclear exports to China amounted to $170 million in 2017, the officials said.

 -----

Earlier:

2018, October, 8, 10:20:00 U.S. DEFICIT UP $3.2 BLN TO $53.2 BLN U.S. BEA - The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $53.2 billion in August, up $3.2 billion from $50.0 billion in July,

2018, October, 4, 14:20:00 U.S. URANIUM LOWS U.S. EIA - During 2017, owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power plants purchased 40 million pounds of uranium from foreign suppliers. Canada, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan represented the top five countries of origin and together accounted for 84% of total U.S. uranium purchases in 2017.

2018, September, 28, 10:00:00 U.S. - CHINA LNG PLATTS - A 10% tariff on US liquefied natural gas is not steep enough to make shipping cargoes to China unprofitable, but it adds an obstacle for the second generation of American terminals, industry observers said.

2018, September, 19, 13:30:00 U.S. - CHINA SANCTIONS: $60 BLN REUTERS - Beijing on Tuesday said it would tax U.S. products worth $60 billion effective Sept. 24 in retaliation for tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in an escalating trade war.

2018, August, 22, 13:00:00 U.S. - CHINA: COUNTERPRODUCTIVE U.S. API - API emphasized the counterproductive effects of Section 301 tariffs on America’s natural gas and oil sector, underscoring the damaging impact that Chinese retaliatory tariffs would have on U.S. LNG exports, and urged the Administration not to impose additional tariffs on Chinese products at today’s hearing before the U.S. Trade Representative on Section 301.

2018, August, 15, 11:00:00 U.S. OIL FOR CHINA REUTERS - Chinese oil importers are shying away from buying U.S. crude as they fear Beijing’s decision to exclude the commodity from its tariff list in a trade dispute between the world’s biggest economies may only be temporary.

2018, August, 13, 13:40:00 CHINA STOPPED U.S. LNG BLOOMBERG - Under the plan, PetroChina would boost buying of spot cargoes from other countries or swap U.S. shipments with other nations in East Asia to avoid paying additional tariffs, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.