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WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Friday it fully expects to finalize new trade exemptions for the AUKUS defense project with Australia and Britain over the next 120 days.
"Exemptions in our export control systems, within a framework of shared standards with Australia and the UK, are key to harnessing and maximizing the innovative power residing in our defense industrial bases," a department statement said.
"We fully expect to finalize the new trade exemptions – based on stakeholder input – over the course of the next 120 days," it said.
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act requires President Joe Biden to determine within 120 days of his signing it into law on Dec. 22 whether Australia and Britain have export control regimes "comparable to the United States" and thereby qualify for the exemptions. The 120 days will be reached on Saturday.
The State Department statement indicated a delay in that determination, but the legislation requires Biden to revisit the issue in another 120 days.
Senior Republican lawmakers this week expressed concern about delays in AUKUS if Biden did not grant the exemptions from strict export controls for defense items covered by U.S. International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
On Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was scaling back its export control requirements for Australia and Britain to foster defense trade under AUKUS, reducing licensing burdens for trade valued at more than $7.5 billion.
However, the Commerce Department only handles licensing of some defense-related items, not the broader range of items covered by the ITAR regime, which is governed by the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Experts say this office has long been resistant to relaxing the rules.
AUKUS was formed in 2021 to address common worries about China's growing power.
Its first pillar deals with supply of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia while the second pillar calls for more immediate cooperation in high-tech defense items such as quantum computing, undersea capabilities, hypersonics, artificial intelligence and cyber technology.
