Mark Dallas, a Union College professor of political science, Asian studies and technology, has joined the Bureau of Industry and Security on temporary assignment as a senior adviser, he announced last week on LinkedIn. While on leave from his teaching job, Dallas said he will work on China export controls and provide “support” in the agency’s Office of Technology Evaluation on “cutting-edge technology R&D in US, China and Europe.” Dallas, who is also a China fellow with the Wilson Center, also will help with issues involving “emerging commercial technologies.”
U.S. export controls are blocking Huawei's access to evidence that it needs to prepare for its upcoming trial on racketeering, trade secret theft and other charges (see 2002130045), the Chinese technology company said in a court filing last week.
A bipartisan group of 22 House members urged the Biden administration this month to investigate reports that Iran provided financial support to pro-Palestinian protest groups in the United States, possibly in violation of U.S. sanctions laws.
A House resolution calling for new U.S. sanctions against Venezuela has gained additional co-sponsors.
The U.K. issued a new general license Aug. 9 authorizing certain payments and "other permitted activities" related to the insolvency proceedings involving East-West United Bank. The bank is based in Luxembourg but is owned by Russian conglomerate Sistema, which decided to close the bank after Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The license allows any individual or entity to "make, receive, or process any payments, or take any other action, in connection with the Insolvency Proceedings." The license expires Aug. 8, 2029.
Although U.S. officials say export controls on advanced semiconductors and related equipment are designed to slow Chinese technological innovation, those controls have so far hurt American toolmakers the most, a technology policy expert said.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued new, coordinated sanctions against Belarus, targeting people, companies and entities that are helping Russia evade sanctions and export controls, funding Belarusian oligarchs tied to President Alexander Lukashenko or taking other steps to aid the Russian or Belarusian governments. The sanctions, which were announced days after a similar set of designations imposed by the EU (see 2408050008), were meant to mark the four-year anniversary of the “fraudulent” 2020 presidential election that helped Lukashenko keep power, the countries said in a joint statement.
EU countries need to do more to track China’s progress in semiconductors, electric vehicles, solar panels and other technologies, European researchers said last week, warning that Beijing is increasingly turning to export controls to test where it can best “exploit dependencies” by other major economies that are imposing their own technology trade restrictions against China. They added that China’s export licensing decisions have so far been “highly opaque” and sometimes appear biased, generating fear among western countries that the controls are solely being used as a trade retaliation tool.
The Biden administration has targeted financial networks that support Hezbollah by conducting five rounds of sanctions against 21 people since October 2023, a State Department spokesperson said Aug. 8.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced it’s running nationwide television and radio public service announcements to help inform small and medium-sized businesses about upcoming requirements to report certain beneficial ownership information to the agency. The announcement comes after lawmakers criticized FinCEN for not doing enough to inform American companies about the new rules (see 2402140044 and 2407090053), which will require businesses to submit information on who owns and controls them as part of a government-led effort to prevent sanctioned parties and other criminal actors from hiding money or property in the U.S. (see 2312210017).