As lawmakers consider imposing new sanctions on Russia, they should ensure they don’t hinder the Trump administration’s ability to negotiate a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said June 11.
The U.S. and China reached an agreement for Beijing to rein in export curbs on critical minerals, and for the U.S. to "provide to China what was agreed to," President Donald Trump said June 11, offering few details about the substance of the deal.
The Commerce Department is still waiting to issue its long-awaited proposed rule on routed exports despite making progress on the effort in recent months, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief for trade outreach and regulations at the Census Bureau.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still discussing how it wants to craft its replacement to the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, an agency official said, as well as preparing to finalize recent rules that reduced licensing requirements for exports of certain space-related items and proposed to simplify the License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization. The official also said the Trump administration is considering tweaks to export licensing, acknowledging that applications are taking longer than usual.
A Russian citizen was charged with using his cryptocurrency company Evita to violate U.S. sanctions by funneling over $500 million in overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a 22-count indictment unsealed by DOJ on June 9. Iurii Gugnin, a resident of New York and a Russian citizen, was charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other charges.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said June 10 that Congress should take up a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill to spur Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine.
The U.N. Security Council this week removed Hajjaj Bin Fahd Al Ajmi from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. Ajmi was sanctioned for his ties to terrorism. The council didn't release more information.
Australia, the U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Norway this week sanctioned Israeli nationals Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the countries said in a joint statement. The two individuals are involved in "advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements" in the territory, the nations said.
The EU this week proposed another round of sanctions against Russia, including lowering the global price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $45 per barrel. The bloc also wants to sanction more vessels transporting Russian oil, designate Chinese companies sending dual-use goods to Russia, and introduce more financial restrictions.