Rep. Eric “Rick” Crawford, R-Ark., introduced a bill Sept. 30 that would require the president to form a task force to identify trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports and develop and implement a strategy to enforce trade agreements against those barriers.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., introduced a bill Sept. 30 that would allow the president to use International Emergency Economic Powers Act sanctions against transnational criminal organizations that conduct large-scale cyber scams targeting Americans.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., introduced a bill Sept. 29 that's designed to protect American companies that are sued in federal court for complying with U.S. sanctions and export controls, especially those against Russia.
Canada imposed new sanctions on Iran Oct. 1 following the U.N.'s move last month to reimpose Iranian restrictions that were paused after the 2015 nuclear deal. The Canadian measures include "broad prohibitions" on exports to and imports from Iran of nuclear, dual-use and ballistic-missile-related material, equipment and technology; prohibitions on technical and financial assistance related to restricted goods; an arms embargo; and service restrictions for Iranian vessels. The announcement follows similar moves to impose snapback sanctions on Iran by the EU, the U.K. and others (see 2510010018 and 2508280033).
The U.S. ambassador to NATO suggested this week that the Trump administration won’t sign off on any new Russia sanctions until all EU and NATO members stop buying Russian energy.
Although the Bureau of Industry and Security in FAQs this week suggested its new 50% rule applies only to ownership and not the control that a parent company may have over an affiliate, that doesn’t mean U.S. exporters should ignore an Entity Listed company’s controlling influence over an unlisted company, said Mike Huneke, a trade lawyer with Morgan Lewis.
Matt Stiglitz has left his position as the associate director of the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network after accepting a voluntary early retirement offer, he announced on LinkedIn. Stiglitz had been with FinCEN since 2019 and previously worked at DOJ for 16 years.
President Donald Trump told lawmakers Sept. 29 that he has withdrawn his nomination of Chris Pratt to be assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, according to Congress.gov. It's unclear what prompted the move. The White House sent the nomination to Capitol Hill in February, and Pratt testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May (see 2505150053).
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Sept. 30 again renewed the temporary denial order for Russia's Ural Airlines, saying it has continued to illegally operate flights within Russia and to and from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The order, first issued in October 2022 (see 2210170009) and renewed multiple times, bars the airline from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The order was renewed for one year.
Senate Banking Committee member Mark Warner, D-Va., urged the Bureau of Industry and Security on Sept. 30 to consider placing export controls on open-source technologies that could benefit China.