The EU on June 29 expanded its sanctions on Belarus for its role in Russia's war in Ukraine to better align it with the restrictions imposed on Russia and address sanctions evasion issues, including by requiring companies to insert a “no-Belarus clause” in their contracts.
The Federal Maritime Commission is looking to revoke a Miami freight forwarder’s ocean transportation intermediary license after its owners illegally exported nearly 600 stolen outboard motors from the U.S., including by providing false shipping documents to CBP. The company, Netcycle Trading, told the FMC it should be allowed to keep the license, but the FMC is asking its administrative law judge to rule against the forwarder after its president submitted “misleading” comments to the commission that downplayed her role in the scheme.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six entities to the Entity List and update its Unverified List to include 13 new parties and remove eight others, the agency said in a pair of rules released July 2 and effective July 3.
The EU General Court in a pair of decisions on June 26 annulled the sanctions listings of Russian businessman Dmitry Alexandrovich Pumpyanskiy and his wife, Galina Evgenyevna Pumpyanskaya. Pumpyanskiy was listed for supporting the Russian government and acting as a "leading businessperson operating in Russia" providing a "substantial source of revenue to the Government of Russia." He formerly served as chairman of Pipe Metalurgic Company (TMK) and president of investment firm Group Sinara, while his wife was listed solely for her link to the businessman. The court said the European Council can't rely on those listing criteria to maintain Pumpyanskiy's sanctions designation given that he no longer holds those positions at TMK or Group Sinara. Pumpyanskaya was removed because the sole basis of her designation was severed following her husband's successful appeal.
The chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere told a State Department official last week that she’s concerned the Biden administration plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list.
The House last week approved an amendment to the FY 2025 State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Bill that would direct $1 million to implementing the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act, a new law for sanctioning Iranian oil.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) Ahn Duk-geun convened last week for the second meeting of the U.S.-Korea Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue Ministerial, where the two leaders discussed dual-use export controls, cooperation on semiconductor production and various supply chain resilience issues. The two leaders acknowledged the need to “protect our critical and emerging technologies from countries that may misuse them to undermine peace and security,” and agreed to continue “existing cooperation under the Dual-Use Export Controls working group to address national security threats while minimizing supply chain disruption.” The meeting was held one day after leaders from the U.S., South Korea and Japan met to discuss various trade issues, including export controls (see 2406270011).
Although Huawei has been able to overcome strict U.S. export controls to design advanced, high-performing chips in recent years (see 2403070059, 2309190052 and 2309120005), a report this month from Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology suggests that Huawei’s chip performance increase is “smaller than advertised” and the company still faces significant production limits.
While the U.S. and the EU are increasingly aligning their views on China, the two sides still don’t yet fully agree on how to use export controls, investment restrictions and other economic security tools to respond to economic and national security threats posed by Beijing, panelists during a Center for a New American Security event said last week. They also said they expect challenges facing American businesses in China to continue to grow, particularly if the U.S. pursues more trade restrictions and as Beijing builds out its anti-foreign sanctions laws.
The Biden administration is aggressively using export controls and sanctions against China, despite a lawmaker’s claims to the contrary, a State Department official told a congressional panel June 27.