Alan Estevez, undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Biden administration, has joined Covington & Burling as a senior adviser. Estevez is joining the firm's practice groups working on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and international trade controls. Estevez served as undersecretary for more than three years, during which he oversaw the introduction and implementation of a range of new export control rules to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors and chip-related technology to China; new export restrictions against Russia; the continued expansion of the Entity List; and more.
President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order aimed at reducing criminal enforcement of federal regulations, but it appears to carve out laws related to national security and defense.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., reintroduced a bill April 30 that would authorize the State Department to sanction Vietnamese officials complicit in human rights abuses, such as torture and the suppression of religious freedom. The Vietnam Human Rights Act was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees. The bill has received five previous House approvals -- in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2013 -- but has stalled in the Senate each time.
A bipartisan group of five senators urged the Trump administration May 9 to use “all available tools” to hold foreign entities accountable for fueling Sudan’s two-year-old civil war.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., urged the Trump administration May 12 to impose additional sanctions on those fueling unrest in Haiti.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Ind., urged the Trump administration May 5 to consider national security when reviewing foreign takeovers of U.S. steel companies.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced May 12 that he will try to block U.S. arms sales to countries he believes are “paying off” President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump touted his plan to get foreign health purchasers to pay more for pharmaceuticals, and U.S. consumers to pay less, as he signed an executive order seeking to equalize those prices.
The U.S. and China agreed to temporarily drop certain tariffs, during negotiations in Switzerland May 10-11, and plan to continue talks through a new trade dialogue mechanism, both countries said.
The U.K. extended its sanctions license permitting the winding down of transactions with Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V., which is a majority-owned subsidiary of sanctioned Russian bank Alfa-Bank. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation extended the license until May 12, 2030. OFSI also amended the license to say that any party, including the "Bankruptcy Trustees and any other insolvency practitioner," can make, receive or process any payments or "exercise all rights" in connection with any insolvency proceeding related to ATB or "the fulfilment of the Bankruptcy Trustees' statutory functions."