The Treasury Department this week renewed a general license that authorizes certain transactions involving imports of fish and other seafood from Russia. New General License 83A, which replaces GL 83, is now valid through 12:01 a.m. EDT, May 31. The license was scheduled to expire Feb. 21.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 18 updated guidance related to an expanded ban on imports of Russian seafood announced in December (see 2312220007). The update to OFAC’s frequently asked question adds several new tariff subheadings to the lists of tariff provisions for pollock and other seafood to which the ban may apply.

A nonprofit is asking the Treasury Department to sanction seven Chinese companies after its reporting revealed their alleged ties to forced labor in China’s seafood industry (see 2310100030). The Outlaw Ocean Project, a Washington-based investigative journalism non-profit, said it submitted a petition to Treasury calling for human rights sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against the seven companies and their affiliates, who are “complicit in serious human rights abuses” against Xinjiang workers.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau seeks comments by Jan. 22 on several information collections related to its regulation of alcoholic beverages, including some specific to imports and exports. The agency seeks input in advance of submission for approval by the Office of Management and Budget of information collections including Form TTB F 5100.11 for removals of distilled spirits, denatured spirits and wines, without payment of tax, for export purposes, as well as of information generally required from importers of alcoholic beverages, among other things.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said no decision has been made yet on whether there will be an executive order limiting outbound investment in China. "It's still something being discussed in the administration and the timing of it is not yet certain," she said on "Face the Nation" from China, before she returned from a diplomatic visit there. "But I wanted to explain to my Chinese counterparts that if we go forward with this executive order, that we will do so in a transparent and narrowly targeted way." She said what's being considered is only for "very narrow high technology areas," and should not significantly impact overall investment in China.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she is “concerned” about China’s new export controls on critical minerals used to produce semiconductors (see 2307060053), saying the U.S. is still assessing the impact but that they “remind us of the importance of building resilient and diversified supply chains.” Speaking during a July 7 roundtable with American businesses in China, Yellen said the administration is working to make sure U.S. companies are competing with China on a “level playing field.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an April 20 speech, said China's state-driven economic policies have spillover effects. "The actions of China’s government have had dramatic implications for the location of global manufacturing activity," she said at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "And they have harmed workers and firms in the U.S. and around the world."

A recent final rule creating a new labeling standard for the Bolivian liquor Singani conflicts with Bolivia’s own standard for the brandy and creates an artificial cut-off that excludes much Singani from being able to be labeled as such under the standard, the National Association of Beverage Importers said in a Jan. 12 news release.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau released a final rule Jan. 12 that adds Singani as a specific type of brandy derived from grapes. Under the final rule, Singani may be manufactured only in Bolivia under Bolivian laws and regulations for its manufacture, and must be bottled at not less than 40% alcohol by volume. Singani bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume would need to be labeled as diluted Singani. Effective Feb. 13, bottles of Singani may be labeled as such without the brandy designation, TTB said.

Although the IRS has no ability to push out the deadlines for battery or vehicle assembly in North America, or the deadlines for sourcing critical minerals domestically or from FTA partners, it is seeking comments on how to determine where assembly was done, and how to define value, all of which may make it easier or harder for electric vehicles to qualify for consumer tax credits.