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.

A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty on July 28 to smuggling goods from the U.S. to Russia, DOJ announced. Andrew Pogosyan, through his company, Omega Diagnostics, evaded export controls on Russia by shipping "scientific and diagnostic research equipment components to Russia without the required licenses," DOJ said.

The Heritage Foundation said July 30 that it welcomes congressional attempts to designate the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The conservative think-tank cited the Muslim Brotherhood’s long-standing support for violent extremist groups, including Gaza-based Hamas. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., have introduced one designation bill and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced another (see 2507170001).

Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced a bill July 29 that would direct the Office of Foreign Assets Control to determine whether to sanction foreign officials involved in the forced deportation of Uyghurs and other “at-risk individuals” to China, according to a Merkley press release.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said July 29 that he’s considering “different options” for placing conditions on removing U.S. sanctions on Syria.

The European Commission this week published an explainer about the energy purchase commitments it agreed to under its trade deal with the U.S., which calls for EU purchases of $750 billion worth of U.S. liquified natural gas and other energy over the next three years (see 2507280027). The commission said it expects that increased imports of American energy will help it "fully replace all Russian energy imports," and stressed that U.S. companies must ensure "unrestricted access and sufficient production and export capacity."

The U.N. Security Council this week unanimously agreed to renew its sanctions regime targeting non-state armed groups and people operating in the Central African Republic. The sanctions were renewed for one year, extending them until July 31, 2026.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has renewed a sanctions waiver for Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned oil company NIS, an entity designated in January for its ties to Russian oil firm Gazprom Neft. At the request of Serbia's Mining and Energy agency, the U.S. now has extended a waiver for the designation five times since January, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said July 27, according to an unofficial translation. NIS operates the country's only oil refinery.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Federal Court judge that it said has ordered "arbitrary pre-trial detentions" and suppressed freedom of expression.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned more than 115 people, entities and vessels for their ties to Iran, including for their part in a “vast shipping empire” controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a top political adviser to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Shamkhani. The designations -- which target a network generating tens of billions of dollars for Iran by moving oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia to buyers around the world -- represent the U.S.'s largest Iran-related sanctions action since 2018, OFAC said.