A once low-profile post in the commerce department has emerged as a key battleground for China hawks in Washington who want to push Joe Biden to take a hard line on technology exports to Beijing.
Biden has yet to name his choice to head the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security but some critics are already targeting Kevin Wolf, an Obama administration export control lawyer now at Akin Gump, a law firm, who is seen as the frontrunner.
“Commerce matters a lot, especially because Treasury is unlikely to take serious anti-China action. That’s why so many China hawks are focused on this,” said Derek Scissors, a China expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “If we want to take serious action against China, BIS is arguably the single most important bureau in government.”