Mapping Export Control Extraterritoriality in the US-China Technology Decoupling

Historically, the United States assertion of extraterritoriality under its export control laws haselicited considerable scholarly discourse. In recent years and with the perceived nationalsecurity threat posed by a burgeoning China, the US has dramatically expanded a set ofextraterritorial rules in its existing export control restrictions. This article evaluates suchexpansion of export control extraterritoriality in the context of waning trade multilateralism.It first provides a doctrinal examination of the development of extraterritoriality in US exportcontrol, focusing on the recent intensificationof US-China technology decoupling, exemplifiedthrough the expansion of end-use control and extraterritorial jurisdiction over US persons.Then, by drawing upon recent literature on geoeconomic trade law, the article argues that arevitalizedpriorityonsecurity-orientedtrade policy making will justify this expansion ofexport control extraterritoriality together with ally-based enforcement exception rules.Nonetheless, expansion of export control extraterritoriality will easily be a slippery slope,potentially initiating retaliatory cycles. Without a multilateral solution, it risks a dramaticrealignment of international trade into blocks of allies and/or regions, thereby underminingdecades of achievements in neo-liberal trade andhurting its leadership in a rules-based order.The article concludes by reflecting on remaining multilateralist avenues to rule on exportextraterritoriality when new trade dispute arises, in light of a few recent WTO DSB reformproposals