The State Department sent a final rule for interagency review that would amend restrictions against Cyprus under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent July 31 to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, could build on past measures to relax export restrictions on certain defense goods and services involving the country (see 2409260011). The State Department has renewed those relaxed restrictions for Cyprus each year since 2020, with the latest renewal scheduled to expire Sept. 30.
The Trump administration plans to maintain strict China-related export controls on the most advanced semiconductors and chip manufacturing equipment, a senior White House official said last week, adding that the U.S. also doesn’t plan to automatically greenlight all H20 chip exports to China.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week fined Markom Management Limited 300,000 pounds (about $400,000) for violating sanctions against Russia.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the committee, urged the Trump administration July 31 to reinstate provisions of the recently rescinded AI diffusion export control rule that are designed to discourage U.S. companies from offshoring critical AI infrastructure and ensure that the technology that is exported is not misused.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., accused the Trump administration late July 30 of misusing its authority by sanctioning Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Federal Court judge, for his role in the trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of President Donald Trump.
A bipartisan, bicameral group of five lawmakers announced July 31 that they have introduced a wide-ranging bill to protect China’s Uyghur minority ethnic group, including by broadening sanctions authorities under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 to cover forced organ harvesting, coercive abortion and the forced separation of children from their families.
The State Department this week labeled the Iraqi paramilitary organization Kata’ib al-Imam Ali and Nasr Mohsen Ali Huthele, the leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba, another Iraqi paramilitary group, specially designated global terrorists. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned both in June for counterterrorism reasons (see 2506130001).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned an Iranian business executive and five entities based in Iran, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for procuring technology on behalf of Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, an Iranian state-owned subsidiary of the country's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. OFAC said the subsidiary makes military aircraft, including unmanned drones for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
China's Cyberspace Administration is probing U.S. semiconductor firm Nvidia after raising concerns that the company's chips may be equipped with features to track the location or potentially shut down H20 chips sold in China, the agency said July 31, according to an unofficial translation.
The Trump administration appears to be avoiding new China-related controls on sensitive semiconductor manufacturing equipment because it fears those restrictions could impede a trade deal, a technology policy researcher said this week. Other researchers said the administration isn’t using its chip bargaining power correctly, adding that the U.S. should be getting more for the deals it has made so far with Gulf nations and potentially others in the future.