House panel leaders want Raimondo to fight China’s Micron chip ban

The Republican leaders of two House committees are calling on Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to push back against China banning the purchase of memory chips from U.S. tech company Micron. 

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a letter to Raimondo on Thursday that their committees are concerned about China’s “ongoing economic coercion” against the United States. 

They noted the Chinese government banned its critical information infrastructure operators from buying chips from the company Micron last month based on purported national security risks, but they argued no evidence exists that the risks are present. 

The chairmen said they agree with Raimondo’s assessment that the ban has “no basis of fact” and is “plain and simple, economic coercion.” 

“To keep its highest end semiconductor technology from being used by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military or to facilitate CCP human rights abuses, the United States had to implement export controls against the [People’s Republic of China],” they said. 

“In response to the United States’ legitimate national security action, the CCP lashed out with an arbitrary economic embargo against one American company,” they added. “Now, the United States must ensure that this economic aggression fails.” 

Gallagher and McCaul said the Commerce Department should work with U.S. partners and allies to overcome the “embargo” and make sure companies in Japan and South Korea don’t replace sales Micron lost because of China’s boycott. 

They said Raimondo should make clear to her counterparts that any U.S. technology used in memory chip fabrication facilities, in China or elsewhere, should not enable or assist the boycott. 

“As we build a coalition of likeminded nations, we must also instill confidence that the United States will stand by our allies to defend our collective interests against any future acts of intimidation,” the letter states. 

They added that the U.S. should continue to enforce export controls put in place on Chinese companies that might threaten America’s national security or foreign interests. 

Gallagher and McCaul also requested that Raimondo provide written responses to questions and a joint briefing to relevant staff of their committees by June 15. 

They asked whether enough evidence exists for the Chinese company ChangXin Memory Technologies, which they said creates products for military and surveillance uses, to have export controls put in place against, and whether officials can use the Anti-Boycott Act of 2018 to prevent U.S. and other companies from furthering the Chinese boycott on Micron. 

And they asked about any changes that need to be made to the law, which declares that the U.S. will oppose restrictive trade practices a foreign country places on a U.S. person, if it cannot currently be used.

A spokesperson for ChangXin denied to The Hill that it is involved in national-security related activities or has a relationship with the Chinese military. They said the company is a start-up that produces memory chips for consumer products like mobile phones, computers and tablets.

“Our company provides consumer products and services in China and seeks to compete fairly with other companies that dominate the market in China and globally,” they said.

Updated on June 3 at 8:34 a.m.