The Senate “stands ready” to give President Donald Trump “any economic leverage” he needs to pressure Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Aug. 18 as Trump was planning to meet with Ukrainian and European leaders at the White House.
Seven Democratic senators led by Arizona's Ruben Gallego urged the Trump administration Aug. 18 to sanction Israeli settlers who have blocked humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza or violently attacked Palestinian civilians, including U.S. citizens, in the West Bank.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed sanctions that had been placed on Claudia Mercedes Vargas Giraldo, who originally was sanctioned in 2017 for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC had sanctioned her for ties to Juan Santiago Gallon Henao, a Colombian drug trafficker associated with the criminal group La Oficina de Envigado. OFAC didn't provide a reason for the delisting.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people in Costa Rica, along with two Costa Rican entities, for their ties to narcotics tracking and money laundering.
The U.S. is holding off on imposing new sanctions against Russia because it believes those measures will undercut any chance of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine “for the foreseeable future,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week, despite calls from the EU and others to continue strengthening sanctions against Moscow.
The U.K.'s $400,000 fine in July of a British management services firm for violating Russia sanctions (see 2507310042) shows that merely having a sanctions compliance program may not be enough to mitigate a fine, Steptoe said in a client alert.
The State Department last week approved a possible $500 million military sale to Bahrain, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The sale includes four "M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems" and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin.
Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced legislation Aug. 15 that would allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to block entities connected to countries of concern from investing in new and existing facilities or businesses in the U.S.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is temporarily adding two synthetic benzimidazole-opioid substances -- N-pyrrolidino metonitazene and N -pyrrolidino protonitazene -- to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a notice. The listing takes effect Aug. 15, and will be in effect for up to three years.
The Census Bureau is updating certain field names in the Automated Export System related to the U.S. Principal Party in Interest address and state of origin, it said in an Aug. 15 email to industry. The agency is changing the name of the “Address of the USPPI” to “Address of Origin” to clarify that the USPPI address “represents the origin of movement, not the address associated with the USPPI [Employer ID Number] or headquarters address,” it said. The change was previewed in a final rule issued by the agency on Aug. 13 (see 2508130022).