President Joe Biden signed into law April 24 a wide-ranging national security bill that will, among other things, ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn't sell the popular social media application to an entity that isn’t controlled by a foreign adversary (see 2404220041 and 2404180020).
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer highlighted U.S. and European cooperation on sanctions and export controls while speaking at the Transatlantic Business Summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and BusinessEurope, and said their governments are working on more ways to punish Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.
The EU General Court last week rejected a challenge from Belgium and Czech Republic-based company Cogebi to EU import restrictions on Russian-made mica products. The court said that the European Council had laid out sufficient reasons for barring the import of mica products in that the council appropriately found the sale of mica products to "generate significant revenues for the Russian Federation."
The Senate on April 23 plans to begin considering a House-passed bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divests the popular social media application (see 2404180020).
Florida-based steel traders John Unsalan and Sergey Karpushkin were sentenced to six years and 21 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a scheme to help Russian oligarch Sergey Kurchenko violate U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced.
EU Advocate General Laila Medina last week said that the "authentication by a notary of a contract of sale of immovable property owned by a legal person established in Russia" isn't covered by the EU's sanctions provisions on Russia, "as long as the engagement in transactions is allowed for that person under that regulation and the authentication is not supplemented by legal advice."
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced late April 17 that she supports a newly modified House proposal that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divested the popular social media application.
The U.S. announced on April 18 a new package of export controls and sanctions against Iran and its activities that support Russia’s war effort, in retaliation for Iran’s attack five days earlier on Israel.
Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."
The U.S. announced new export controls and sanctions against Iran, as well as new export controls against Russia intended to address Iran’s support for Russia’s drone program, in response to Iran’s attack on Israel on April 13.