The U.S. has "seriously" violated the consensus reached by Washington and Beijing during trade talks in Switzerland last month when it placed new export restrictions on chip design software (see 2505290038 and 2505300006) and warned companies against using advanced chips made by Huawei (see 2505130018), China's Ministry of Commerce said this week.
The State Department approved a possible $325 million military sale to Kuwait, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said this week. The sale includes "M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank System Sustainment Support and related equipment," and the principal contractor will be General Dynamics Land System.
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., an Iraq War veteran, urged the Trump administration on May 28 to impose a wide range of sanctions on Iraq to curb Iran's influence in the country.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Trump administration June 4 to investigate whether terrorists have used Elon Musk's social media platform X to raise money, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published a series of videos this week to provide guidance on sanctions administered by the agency as well as on reporting requirements, general and specific licenses, sanctions lists, and more. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control also has published video guidance about complying with sanctions (see 2505230009).
A bipartisan Russian sanctions bill that would also target countries still doing certain business with Moscow may hurt Russia in the short term but also could further damage U.S. trade talks with China, said Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to China during the Biden administration. And while Burns said he’s glad the Trump administration has maintained sanctions against Chinese companies for selling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, he said the U.S. likely will never be able to convince China to stop supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.
The Commerce Department is drafting a replacement for its recently repealed AI diffusion rule to ensure the new controls don’t impede U.S. exports to allies, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said June 4.
Jesse Sucher, a former senior adviser and official with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined FTI Consulting as a senior director, the firm announced on LinkedIn. Sucher left the Treasury Department in 2023.
President Donald Trump has nominated Citi executive Jonathan Burke to be the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing, the White House told the Senate June 2.
Joseph Barloon, who was a general counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during Donald Trump's first term, told Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that he believes in rules-based trade.