U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on March 8 bluntly warned Chinese companies not to contravene trade sanctions against Russia by supplying the belligerent nation with chips and other supplies needed to sustain the war effort against Ukraine. Firms that do not abide by the sanctions can be “essentially shut” down, she said. Raimondo, in an interview with the New York Times, said that Russia “is certainly going to be courting other countries to do an end run around our sanctions and export controls,” but issued a harsh ultimatum to companies not to cooperate with any such circumvention. The commerce secretary emphasized the ease with which the Biden administration could shut down China’s largest chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) or any other firms that make their technology available to Russia, adding it does not make sense from the companies’ own point of view to flout U.S. sanctions. “They have their …