Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, and Del. James Moylan, R-Guam, announced Dec. 3 that they have introduced a bill aimed at protecting whistleblowers who report defense export control violations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned people and entities associated with Tren de Aragua, a Latin America-based criminal group that the U.S. labeled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and Foreign Terrorist Organization in February (see 2502190011).
The EU released its new economic security doctrine this week (see 2511170007), outlining plans to build on the bloc’s existing trade defense measures and vowing to more aggressively use investment screening, export controls and other tools to protect EU companies.
The U.S. should maintain and strengthen export restrictions on advanced chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to preserve its edge over China in AI, a panel of experts told lawmakers Dec. 2.
The European Parliament released a new study this week about EU sanctions and frozen Russian assets, which examines the legal challenges and possible solutions for using those assets to aid Ukraine. The 108-page paper proposes "viable options for the use of these three asset types as reparations under EU and international law" and argues that the most likely path involves a reparations loan to Ukraine.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, R-N.Y., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, introduced a bill Dec. 1 that would require the president to sanction foreign entities, individuals and vessels that engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced a bill Nov. 25 that would authorize the president to sanction foreign agencies, entities and individuals who launch cyberattacks against critical U.S. infrastructure.
The Senate Appropriations Committee unveiled an FY 2026 financial services and general government appropriations bill Nov. 24 that would fully fund the Trump administration’s request for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
There's concern that Russia-related sanctions coordination among allies could “unravel,” especially as the Trump administration pursues its Russia-Ukraine peace strategy, the U.K. Parliament said in a research briefing last week.
New Zealand is seeking public comments and proposals on ways to strengthen its export control regime, it said last week. The country is specifically considering how to address "contemporary and future proliferation challenges," which could lead to new export controls on intangible technology transfers, such as military-related teaching and joint research, "which are increasingly targeted by proliferators to gain knowledge."