The State Department recently approved four possible military sales to Ukraine worth more than $650 million combined, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced two bills July 31 that would restrict and scrutinize foreign purchases of American land.
Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., reintroduced a bill July 31 that would direct the Commerce Department to lead an Interagency review of the “unique challenges” posed by Chinese foreign investment, especially acquisitions, and whether there are opportunities to work with “like-minded countries” to address those challenges.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its Russia-related sanction entry for Petr Olegovich Aven, an executive with the Alfa Group Consortium, one of Russia’s largest financial and investment conglomerates. OFSI changed his address from Moscow to Riga, Latvia, and updated other identifying information.
The State Department issued notice of its latest report to Congress under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act to certify that Iran wasn't using certain raw or semi-finished metals described in the IFCA “as a medium for barter, swap, or any other exchange." The agency did say, however, that Iran was using certain products in connection with its nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs, including "austenitic nickel-chromium alloy," "magnesium ingots," "sodium perchlorate," tungsten copper and more. The agency also continued to determine, in coordination with the Treasury Department, that the construction sector of Iran is controlled directly or indirectly by the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The State Department sent a final rule for interagency review that would amend restrictions against Cyprus under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent July 31 to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, could build on past measures to relax export restrictions on certain defense goods and services involving the country (see 2409260011). The State Department has renewed those relaxed restrictions for Cyprus each year since 2020, with the latest renewal scheduled to expire Sept. 30.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls on July 29 updated its list of commodity jurisdiction determinations for items and services controlled under the U.S. Munitions List. The new determinations cover certain antennas, an anti-tank projectile, a laser range finder, a radiofrequency switch and more.
The Trump administration plans to maintain strict China-related export controls on the most advanced semiconductors and chip manufacturing equipment, a senior White House official said last week, adding that the U.S. also doesn’t plan to automatically greenlight all H20 chip exports to China.
The U.K. on July 31 published new antidumping and countervailing duty rates for Chinese bus and truck tire exporters, with Chongqing Hankook Tire and Jiangsu Hankook Tire, known as the Hankook Group, having rates apply from Jan. 1, 2021, to Oct. 22, 2028. The Hankook Group will be assessed 6.55% AD rates and zero percent CVD rates for this period. The rates for all other Chinese exporters will be 45.71% AD and 64.41% CVD.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week fined Markom Management Limited 300,000 pounds (about $400,000) for violating sanctions against Russia.