Big agriculture purchases may be part of a deal with Mexico to stop tariffs from going in place as scheduled for June 10, President Donald Trump said in a June 7 tweet. "If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, & there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing Farm & Agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately," he said. "If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will begin paying Tariffs at the 5% level on Monday."

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), Iran’s “largest and most profitable petrochemical holding group,” as well as 39 of its subsidiaries, Treasury said in a June 7 press release. PGPIC was sanctioned for funding Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, which Treasury said is the “engineering conglomerate” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $400,000 settlement agreement with Western Union Financial Services after OFAC said Western Union committed nearly 5,000 violations of the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, OFAC said in a June 7 notice. Western Union, headquartered in Colorado, processed transactions that involved the Kairaba Shopping Center (KSC) in The Gambia, a Specially Designated National, for more than four years after the entity was sanctioned by OFAC, the notice said. After Western Union discovered KSC was sanctioned, OFAC said, it “failed to deactivate” the entity’s access to Western Union “due to its mistaken belief that” the entity was “already inactive.” Western Union processed transactions worth about $ 1.275 million “to third-party, non-designated beneficiaries who chose to collect their remittances at KSC,” the notice said.

The European Union published new regulations June 7 setting requirements for importation of cultural property from non-EU member states. Either import licenses or importer statements will be required for imports of cultural property, depending on what type of object is being imported, beginning once the EU has an electronic system in place to accept submissions, or by June 2025 at the latest. A general ban on imports of unauthorized cultural property takes effect in December 2020.

In the June 6 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

Paper cargo control documents for in-bond shipments will no longer be required as of July 1, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a customs notice. "The in-bond movement is now a fully electronic process, in which the cargo will move inland on the electronic Advance Commercial Information (ACI) transmitted to the CBSA at least 1 hour prior to arriving at the border," the agency said. The paper process will remain for re-manifest and abstracts, the CBSA said.

Vietnam Customs issued a decision to improve customs regulations and procedures, focusing on 2019-2021 with a plan for implementation of measures, according to a June 6 report from the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ mouthpiece CustomsNews website. The report said customs wants to “improve efficiency” by continuing with certain reforms and reducing the time and cost of loading and unloading goods at warehouses, yard and ports. The decision took effect May 27, the report said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will not attend the G-20 meeting in Japan, where he would have the opportunity for brief bilateral meetings with Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and European counterparts. Deputy USTR Dennis Shea will lead the U.S. delegation June 8 and 9.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and issued frequently asked questions for guidance, OFAC said in a June 6 notice. OFAC amended General License 7A, which authorizes certain transactions related to PDV Holding, Inc. and CITGO Holding, Inc; General License 8, which authorizes certain transactions involving Petroleos de Venezuela for entities operating in Venezuela; and General License 13, which authorizes certain transactions involving Nynas AB. The addition to OFAC’s FAQs concerns the export and re-export of “diluents” to Venezuela. Diluents such as crude oil and naphtha "play a key role in the transportation and exportation of Venezuelan petroleum," which is a major revenue source for the regime of Nicolas Maduro, which the U.S. seeks to suppress.

The European Commission referred Spain to the European Union’s Court of Justice for imposing “disproportionate penalties” on Spanish taxpayers who violate sanctions, the EC said in a June 6 press release. Spanish taxpayers must report on any properties, bank accounts or financial assets they hold abroad, the press release said, and are sanctioned if the information is not reported accurately or on time, sometimes facing sanctions “higher than those for similar infringements in a purely domestic situation.” The EC said Spain’s sanctions penalties are “disproportionate and discriminatory,” and may “deter businesses and private individuals from investing or moving across borders in the Single Market.” Spain’s sanctions are “in conflict with the fundamental freedoms of the EU,” the EC said.