Expensive Access to Space has merit. Well, maybe? Hmm.

Any physical entity relevant to space launch capabilities is considered
an "armament" by the US government, and since 1996 or so subject to
state department approval for export licenses - and if the export is to
China or a few other countries, I believe the approval has to come
directly from Congress. That's likely, right. Any technical discussion
between a launch component enterprise in the US and one overseas (for
example between a satellite manufacturer and any non-US rocket launch
company) is subject to onerous regulatory paperwork and potential jail
time for violations of the information-sharing restrictions agreed upon
in the paperwork. ANY launch that includes a US component (even a
non-space-specific component like a semiconductor chip) is supposed to
be subject to these US regulatory contraints - which has made overseas
satellite manufacturers, launch service providers, etc. very careful
about the components they use.

The reasoning behind all this is somewhat obscure - the original
argument was avoidance of the spread of ICBM-type missile launch
capabilities; the clamp-down in 1996 was because Republicans in Congress
raised a huge stink about supposed missile technology transfer to the
Chinese by various US corporations. But now it just means the US is
falling behind other countries in conventional launch technology - our
companies can't compete, and they can't even talk to their counterparts
elsewhere, and the rest of the world has plenty of capability not to
need our stuff any more. To say that Congress has been paranoid about
the whole business is probably an understatement.

The relevant regulations are under "ITAR" - international traffic in
arms regulations - see http://pmdtc.org/reference.htm

Arthur