The Implications of Disbanding the Corporate Enforcement Unit

This chapter examines the ramifications of a February 2025 memo that dismantled the DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Unit and its potential impact on export controls for technology, especially AI in relation to China. It also investigates the challenges of enforcing these controls amid bureaucratic limitations and highlights the emergence of Manus AI, a Chinese startup claiming to have developed a general AI agent. The discussion contrasts Manus AI's capabilities with those of major competitors, raising skepticism about the technology's actual effectiveness despite the hype surrounding it.