Ara Dolarian, owner of arms brokering company Dolarian Capital Inc., is facing criminal charges over the illegal brokering of arms sales, the Department of Justice said in a May 20 news release. Although the State Department denied applications from Dolarian to broker arms deals, the company "allegedly attempted to broker a multi-million dollar transfer of high‑explosive bombs, rockets, military-grade firearms, and aircraft-mounted cannons from Eastern Europe and South Africa to the government of Nigeria," said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. "Without approval from the State Department, Dolarian allegedly accepted approximately $8.3 million from Nigeria and its broker," the DOJ said. Those funds were then funneled through numerous shell companies and were used by Dolarian to pay off various expenses, it said. Dolarian is alleged to have willfully violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulations prohibitions on "brokering activities" without State approval, according to the complaint.
The U.S. should impose sanctions and limit weapons shipments from countries and companies that contribute to terrorism and conflict in Libya, panelists said at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on May 15. The Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism sought testimony on "The Conflict in Libya."
The Trump administration's decision to examine emerging technologies as candidates for export controls could cost U.S. businesses tens of billions of dollars and threaten thousands of jobs, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a new report. If substantial export controls are enacted, the report warns, firms “could lose $14.1 [billion] to $56.3 billion in export sales over five years, with missed export opportunities threatening from 18,000 to 74,000 jobs.”
Canada and Mexico each on May 20 ended their retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to the end of U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products from the two countries (see 1905170058). General safeguard duties set by each country remain in place but don’t affect U.S. exports.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions with Huawei and 68 of its affiliates without new licensing requirements set by their recent addition to the Entity List. The general license is scheduled for publication in the May 22 Federal Register, and will remain in effect from May 20 through Aug. 19.
In the May 17 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Mexican customs will not enforce certificate of compliance requirements for imports of automobile safety belts at the time of entry into the country, said the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations in a May 15 bulletin. At this time, there are no accredited and approved certification bodies to evaluate conformity with Mexican standards for safety belts under Mexican tariff schedule subheading 8708.21.01, the bulletin said. The exemption will remain in place until one year after the policy was issued on May 2.
Guatemalan customs authorities will now allow multiple corrections to Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) certificates of origin, reversing a previous policy that only allowed COOs to be corrected once for imports from the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a May 16 report. Implemented beginning April 26, the new policy “will help expedite the clearance of imported U.S. products, saving importers tens of thousands of dollars and make the import process more transparent,” the report said. Under the new policy, the COO can be corrected multiple times within 15 calendar days of written notification, which will also be provided by Guatemalan customs under the new policy.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to eliminate restrictions on U.S. beef exports, allowing U.S. cattle of all ages to be sold in Japan for the first time since 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a May 17 press release. Japan previously banned and then later imposed age restrictions on U.S. beef imports, USDA said, eventually lifting the age restriction in January for beef from the U.S., Canada and Ireland. The decision came after a meeting between Japanese government officials and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and after consultations between the two countries on revising Japan’s import requirements. USDA estimated the change could increase U.S. beef exports to Japan “by up to $200 million annually.” USDA said the new rules and conditions will be posted May 20. “This is great news for American ranchers and exporters who now have full access to the Japanese market for their high-quality, safe, wholesome, and delicious U.S. beef,” Perdue said in a statement.
New U.S. sanctions on China in response to the country’s oppression of Uighurs could be effective, but there’s a risk of retaliation, experts said while speaking at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing. Uighurs are an officially recognized ethnic minority group in China and other parts of Asia, descended from ancient tribes in Mongolia.