Bureau of Industry and Security BIS

Peacetime export controls began with the Export Control Act of 1949, aimed at keeping strategic goods from the Soviet bloc. The Commerce office that administered them, long called the Bureau of Export Administration, was renamed the Bureau of Industry and Security in 2002. The Export Control Reform Act of 2018 gave its authority a permanent statutory footing, and it is led by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.

BIS administers the Export Administration Regulations, which govern exports of dual-use items with both civilian and military uses, such as advanced chips, software, and machine tools. It maintains the Commerce Control List and the Entity List of foreign companies that need special licenses, a tool used against firms such as Huawei. It also conducts investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which let the President impose tariffs on imports found to threaten national security, used for steel and aluminum in 2018 and extended in 2025 to products including copper, lumber, trucks, and semiconductors.

Since October 2022, BIS has issued sweeping controls on advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment destined for China. In 2025 the administration rescinded a rule that would have limited AI chip exports worldwide and later allowed some chip sales to China in exchange for a share of revenue. Supporters of tight controls say they slow China's military and AI progress, while critics argue that they cost U.S. companies sales, spur Chinese self-sufficiency, and that revenue-sharing deals blur the line between security and commerce.