China this week said it’s temporarily reversing April announcements that added dozens of U.S. companies to the country’s unreliable entity list, which blocked those firms from participating in import and export activities in China, and its export control list, which blocked them from receiving certain dual-use items (see 2504090017 and 2504040024). Beijing will suspend those restrictions for 90 days from May 14, the Ministry of Commerce said, according to unofficial translations.
The State Department approved two possible military sales to Turkey, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said May 14.
The U.S. and the United Arab Emirates this week agreed to a new AI partnership framework that will improve their cooperation around critical technologies and “ensure the protection of such technologies based on a set of joint commitments,” the Commerce Department said. The framework will “facilitate deeper technology cooperation” between the two nations, Commerce said, “including the launch of a 1GW AI data center, part of a planned 5GW UAE-US artificial intelligence technology cluster in Abu Dhabi to support regional computation demand.” That effort will meet “robust US security standards and other efforts to responsibly deploy AI infrastructure, both in the UAE and globally.” The two countries will also work on a “more efficient” process for direct investments in the U.S. by UAE investment funds, Commerce said. They plan to create a working group within 30 days to “implement, monitor and assess progress” on the new framework.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., announced May 15 that he has introduced joint resolutions of disapproval aimed at blocking $3.5 billion in arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He cited ethical concerns about President Donald Trump's ties to both countries.
A bipartisan group of eight House members May 15 introduced a companion to a Senate bill that would require export-controlled advanced computing chips to contain location verification mechanisms. The legislation is intended to prevent the diversion of chips to “adversaries” such as China.
Trade groups representing three strong exporting sectors -- soybeans, semiconductors and medical devices -- and an expert in critical minerals trade all told the Senate Finance Committee that higher tariffs on all countries and products, and constantly changing tariff policy, aren't good for American competitiveness.
The Census Bureau will soon update AESDirect, the filing tool used to submit electronic export information in the Automated Export System, to allow all AESDirect users to see the partner government agency requirements that have been integrated in AESDirect, the agency said in a May 15 email to industry. Currently, some PGA requirements “were based on Pilot participation and were only available to those participants,” Census said. AESDirect will be updated May 20.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation emailed a reminder to industry this week about new sanctions reporting requirements for certain art dealers, real estate agents and insolvency practitioners. As of May 14, those people “are legally required to comply with relevant firms reporting obligations in the UK,” OFSI said, including reports about suspected sanctions violations.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two Hezbollah officials and two people who help the group receive money from overseas donors, which contribute a “significant portion of the terrorist group’s overall budget,” the Treasury Department said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license that eliminates the expiration date for certain authorized transactions with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, an international crude oil transportation project involving Russia, and the Tengizchevroil project, another oil venture involving Chevron and Kazakhstan. New General License 124 authorizes certain transactions with those projects that would normally be prohibited under a January determination that blocks the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia (see 2501100027).