The U.S. last week sanctioned 15 members of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel and six Mexican businesses for their involvement in a “Black Market Peso Exchange” scheme to launder millions in illegal fentanyl proceeds for the cartel. The designations target cellphone businesses and their owners, fentanyl suppliers, money launderers, food service companies and clothing retailers, a former Mexican police officer and more.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will again change the export control threshold for certain high-energy storage capacitors to remove license requirements from capacitors that are widely commercially available and no longer provide military or intelligence advantages. The change, outlined in a final rule published March 25 and effective April 24, decontrols certain capacitors with a voltage rating of 500 volts or less.
The EU General Court on March 20 annuled the sanctions listing of former Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, saying the link between Mazepin and his father -- sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin -- is insufficient for the driver's listing on the Russia sanctions regime.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act, which gives the Federal Maritime Commission power to investigate allegations against shipping exchanges, passed the House March 21 by a vote of 393-24. It also directs the FMC to establish standards for price indexes published by shipping exchanges, such as the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 28-22 this week to approve a bill that would impose property-blocking sanctions on Chinese Communist Party leaders for committing human rights violations.
China’s Commerce Ministry urged the U.S. against placing new export controls on companies linked to Huawei after hearing the U.S. is reportedly considering adding them to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. “potentially” violated U.S. export control laws by producing 7 nanometer computing chips with American equipment it obtained before the Bureau of Industry and Security imposed updated export controls on chip-making tools last year, BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said.
The House on March 19 passed a bill that would impose property-blocking sanctions on foreign persons who undermine the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-9 on March 20 to approve President Joe Biden’s nomination of Erik Woodhouse to be head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination. Eleven Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., supported the nomination, while nine Republicans were opposed. The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, has threatened to try to block the nomination when it goes to the full Senate, citing Woodhouse's role in the Biden administration's decision not to sanction the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project while Russia was threatening to invade Ukraine (see 2403070046).
Members of Congress who spoke during the House Agriculture Committee's March 20 hearing on China highlighted several proposals to restrict the communist country’s increasing acquisition of American agricultural land.