Export controls aren't "perfect," but the U.S. needs to continue using them to stay ahead of China in advanced technology sectors, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said last week.

Trade enforcement under President Donald Trump could "look a little different" than how the federal government has previously acted because of how the DOJ seems now to want to focus on holding individuals accountable, as opposed to corporations, according to a trade lawyer speaking during a June 6 webinar hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center.

The U.S. is willing to lift export controls over certain semiconductors in exchange for China approving exports of rare earths and other critical minerals, a senior Trump administration official said June 9.

European countries still have "very different" levels of research security practices in place to protect against threats from China and other adversarial nations, University of Manchester researchers said in a new report. While some countries have "mature research security policies and practices," others are at an earlier stage, while "no country can be said to have institutionalised research security practices across its whole research system."

EU member states, along with the bloc's Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, met in Lithuania last week to discuss ways to strengthen export enforcement of dual-use goods sent to Russia, Lithuania's customs office said. The countries said they want to better "identify organized criminal groups and prevent illegal profit-making," and they also discussed ways to more "promptly" share information about how bad actors are evading sanctions, the notice said, according to an unofficial translation. They specifically examined sanctions evasion methods in the Baltic Sea region. The meeting featured customs and law enforcement representatives from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

The U.S. should be prepared to reimpose sanctions on Syria if the country’s new government does not head in the right direction, a researcher told a congressional panel June 5.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., plans to force Senate votes as early as the week of June 9 and “certainly this month” on joint resolutions of disapproval that would block $3.5 billion in arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the lawmaker said at the Center for American Progress June 5. Murphy introduced the resolutions last month, citing ethical concerns about President Donald Trump's ties to both countries (see 2505150069).

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture approved an FY 2026 appropriations bill June 5 that would add the USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural transactions. A similar provision was included in an FY 2024 appropriations law (see 2403110058). The new bill also would provide funding to improve the tracking system for foreign-owned agricultural land.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy voted 15-13 June 5 to approve a bill that would eliminate a requirement that the Energy Department authorize liquefied natural gas exports, leaving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as the sole authority for the approval process. The Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act is intended to prevent a future administration from banning the issuance of U.S. LNG export permits. The full House passed the bill in the last Congress (see 2503070048).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned more than 40 people and entities tied to Iranian brothers Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam, who have laundered billions of dollars’ worth of funds through the international financial system for Iran's “shadow banking” network, the Treasury Department said. The designations target front companies in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong along with "affiliated businessmen" and others who have ties to sales of Iranian energy.