The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 6 released its quarterly report on certain licensing activities for Iran, covering April-June. The reports provide licensing statistics for exports of agricultural goods, medicine and medical devices as required by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three senior members and one associate of the Mexico-based Cartel del Noreste, which it called one of the "most violent drug trafficking organizations" in the country and which the U.S. labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February (see 2502190011).
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, suggested this week that the U.S. is against imposing export controls on open-weight AI models.
Nvidia chips don’t have and shouldn’t be required to have so-called “kill switches” that would allow exported chips to be remotely disabled without the user’s consent, the semiconductor company said this week.
The Trump administration has failed to use sanctions and export controls to help end Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Democratic staffs of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations committees said in a report released this week.
Citing increasing attacks on civilians in the West Bank, senators introduced two bills Aug. 1 that would sanction those who promote or engage in violence in the disputed Israeli-Palestinian territory.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Trump administration July 30 to sanction those providing material support to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which is fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Estonia has recently seen an uptick in shipments of imported plywood that it suspects of violating EU sanctions against Russia, the country’s tax and customs agency said this month.
The White House this week extended a national emergency that authorizes certain export control regulations. It was renewed for one year beyond the original Aug. 17 expiration.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that would revise Biden-era regulations that increased restrictions on firearms exports. The rule, sent for review Aug. 4, is expected to reverse some of those restrictions amid lobbying from gun industry advocates (see 2505290012). Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in June that the Biden-era rule was "inconsistent with our views" (see 2506050050).