The EU and Canada on May 14 will hold a virtual "debrief" to industry members after the two sides' seventh annual meeting of their regulatory cooperation forum earlier that day. Registration for the debrief closes May 5. The forum was created under the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement to help the two sides better harmonize trade regulations.

The State Department has approved a possible $1.33 billion military sale to Poland, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said April 29. The sale includes “AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles" and related elements of logistics and program support. The principal contractor will be RTX Corp.

Luke Lindberg, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, said April 29 that he would seek to lower barriers to U.S. agricultural exports in a wide range of places, including the EU, which “routinely shuts out our products at the altar of non-scientific based claims.”

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by voice vote April 30 the nomination of former State Department official Thomas DiNanno to be undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The nomination now heads to the full Senate for its consideration. DiNanno testified before the committee April 9 that speeding up foreign military sales will be a priority for him if he’s confirmed (see 2504090026).

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s foreign arms sales task force held the second in a series of roundtables April 29 to receive defense industry input on improving the U.S. foreign arms sales process, the committee announced April 30. During the closed-door session, the task force heard from the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Defense Industrial Association. The committee revealed in January that it was forming the task force (see 2501220086).

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, urged the Trump administration April 30 to reconsider its decision to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), saying the move could impede the delivery of humanitarian aid to the impoverished country.

The Chinese government has reportedly added U.S. ethane imports to a growing list of unannounced exemptions to its universal 125% tariff rate on U.S. products.

The Council of the EU on April 28 extended the sanctions on Moldova for one year, pushing them to an April 29, 2026, expiration date. The restrictions currently apply to 16 people and two entities and were imposed on those seeking to destabilize, undermine or threaten the "sovereignty and independence of" Moldova.

The State Department this week sanctioned multiple entities and ships moving Iranian petroleum products and petrochemical products, including four sellers and one buyer of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian energy.

President Donald Trump has nominated David Peters to be assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House told Congress April 29.