Cordell Hull, a high-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Commerce who helped craft U.S. policies on exports to China, said he was leaving his post in early December.Hull led the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security for the past year as it further cut off supplies to Huawei Technologies, the telecommunications equipment-maker placed on a U.S. trade blacklist last year over national security concerns.During his tenure, the department strengthened U.S. export controls in response to China’s policy of eliminating barriers between its civilian and military sectors, and blacklisted video surveillance equipment maker Hikvision and other companies over the treatment of Uighur Muslims.”I’m proud of what we’ve been able to achieve on important national security issues,” Hull, acting undersecretary for industry and security, said in an interview. “I’ve decided to look for the next challenge in the private sector.”Hull took the Commerce Department post last November, six months after Huawei was put on the so-called “entity list,” which allowed the U.S. government to restrict sales of U.S.-made goods to the company.But key foreign supply chains remained beyond the reach of U.S. authorities, prompting the agency to apply further curbs.Hull also worked with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which led an investigation into the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.He has been in government for about six years, most of them in the U.S. House of Representatives, including as general counsel to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.Hull’s last day will be Dec. 4. The turnover of power for the new U.S. administration takes place Jan. 20.
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