The U.S. Trade Representative has published its annual trade estimate, almost 400 pages of tariff and non-tariff barriers in countries around the world. The report noted, "The estimates included in this report constitute an attempt to quantitatively assess the potential effect of removing certain foreign trade barriers to particular U.S. exports. However, the estimates cannot be used to determine the total effect on U.S. exports, either to the country in which a barrier has been identified, or to the world in general. In other words, the estimates contained in this report cannot be aggregated in order to derive a total estimate of gain in U.S. exports to a given country or the world."

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six people and seven entities tied to the money laundering network supporting the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel, which the agency called one of the “most notorious and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world.”

The State Department this week sanctioned six Hong Kong government and police officials who it said have helped to implement Hong Kong’s repressive national security law, which penalizes government dissent.

The Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent semiconductor-related export controls could place large burdens not only on exporters but also on BIS enforcement, which will face a host of challenges trying to track whether certain countries have filled their allocated chip quotas, researchers said.

The U.S. this month arrested and charged a Pakistani-Canadian national with conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls after DOJ said he illegally shipped millions of dollars worth of controlled items to entities in Pakistan, including ones on the Entity List, all while hiding the true end-users from U.S. exporters.

The U.K. last week released its latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong, outlining events in the region from July 1 to Dec. 31, including certain events that the U.K. said raise human rights and business concerns. It said certain rights and freedoms in Hong Kong "continued to be negatively impacted by the broad application of" Hong Kong's national security law, the 2020 legislation that made illegal a range of dissenting and anti-government acts. The U.K. said Hong Kong authorities arrested several people during that time frame for calling for Hong Kong’s independence "and for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong, criticising them for 'betraying' China and 'neglecting' the interests of Hong Kong."

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Finance extended the period of an antidumping duty investigation on graphite electrodes from China by three months, until July 23. METI said the extension is to "carefully review the evidence and relevant documents submitted by interested parties, while ensuring full transparency and fairness throughout the investigation process." The investigation was launched in April 2024 and recently saw the agency impose a 95.2% provisional AD on Chinese graphite electrodes, effective March 29 (see 2503250022).

President Donald Trump described his phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as "extremely productive," in a social media post, adding "we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced last week that it has appointed a total of 12 members – seven Republicans, five Democrats -- to its new task force on foreign arms sales.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, reintroduced a bill March 13 that would prohibit U.S. natural gas from being exported to a foreign country with the intent of further exporting the gas through a foreign liquefied natural gas terminal. Sullivan is concerned about the transport of American gas by pipeline to Mexico, whose energy sector experiences corruption, fuel theft and government interference. The bill, which he offered in the last Congress (see 2410030033), was referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.