The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 24 officially removed sanctions from all people and entities designated under a sanctions authority that had targeted violent Israeli settlers and organizations in the West Bank (see 2501210023). OFAC “removed the West Bank-Related Sanctions program from its website and removed all persons designated under” the West Bank-related executive order 14115, signed by President Joe Biden last year (see 2402010053), from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. “All property and interests in property blocked under E.O. 14115 are unblocked,” OFAC said.
A former top Commerce Department adviser in the Biden administration expects President Donald Trump and Congress to continue prioritizing export controls and other trade restrictions, although he said the government’s success partly depends on whether the administration can craft a clear, coordinated economic security strategy that doesn’t only rely on tariffs.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., President Donald Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Jan. 21 that she would favor reimposing sanctions on Iran for violating its nuclear weapons-related obligations.
The new Trump administration announced plans to redesignate the Yemen-based Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, subjecting the group to additional sanctions, financial reporting requirements and other restrictions.
The Trump administration should look to negotiate new types of economic and trade deals that are centered on economic security issues, such as export controls and investment screening measures, the Center for a New American Security said in a new report this week. The think tank also called on President Donald Trump to create an economic security strategy, which should outline avenues to strengthen export control enforcement.
Ivan Kanapathy, former senior vice president at Beacon Global Strategies, has been named the senior director for Asia at the National Security Council, the firm announced Jan. 21. Kanapathy, who served on the NSC under the first Trump administration, has voiced support for U.S. unilateral and extraterritorial trade controls against China (see 2306160043) and has criticized the Treasury Department for being slow to update its Non-Specially Designated Nationals Chinese Military Industrial Complex List (see 2402130050).
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a think tank aligned with Trump's trade policy, issued a new report on agricultural trade, arguing that policies that aimed to lower U.S. tariffs in exchange for better market access for U.S. agricultural exports almost exclusively benefited soybeans, corn and wheat, while hurting fruit and vegetable farmers and livestock operations.
President Donald Trump this week revoked an order from former President Joe Biden that had removed Cuba from the State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list (see 2501140080 and 2501170021). Biden’s order, issued during his final days in office, was one of multiple “harmful” executive actions that Trump rescinded on his first day back as president on Jan. 20, the White House said. The move is expected to reimpose certain export restrictions on shipments of certain arms and dual-use items to the island, along with other trade prohibitions and restrictions.
The U.S. will impose more sanctions against Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't move quickly to negotiate a deal that will end its war against Ukraine, President Donald Trump posted Jan. 22 on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump and lawmakers should carry out a “comprehensive” review of past U.S. technology and investment restrictions involving semiconductors, including the range of recent export controls over advanced chips and related equipment that resulted from the Biden administration’s “small yard, high fence” strategy, the chip industry said.