Biden admin grilled over $30b in licences for blacklisted Chinese firms

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration approved more than US$23 billion (S$30 billion) worth of licences for companies to ship US goods and technology to blacklisted Chinese companies in the first quarter of 2022, a Republican lawmaker said on Tuesday. The data comes amid growing pressure on the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden to further expand a broad crackdown on shipments of sensitive US technology to China from Republican lawmakers, who now control the House of Representatives. "Overwhelmingly, (the Commerce Department) continues to grant licences that allow critical US technology to be sold to our adversaries," Republican Representative Michael McCaul,…