Key U.S. Commerce Dept official involved in China policy resigning

By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) – 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 in early December.

Hull led the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for the past year as it further cut off supplies to Huawei Technologies, the telecommunications equipment maker that was put on a U.S. trade blacklist last year over national security and foreign policy concerns.

During his tenure, the department also strengthened U.S. export controls in response to China’s military-civilian fusion and blacklisted video surveillance and other companies over its 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’s last day will be Dec. 4. The turnover of power for the new U.S. administration takes place Jan. 20.