A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge ordered ocean carrier SM Line Corp. May 28 to pay consumer goods company Samsung Electronics America $1.9 million in reparations for unfair demurrage and detention fees.
Nicaragua formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on June 2, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 101. The WTO needs 10 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The EU is preparing another package of Russia sanctions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on LinkedIn, including a measure that could lower the price cap on Russian oil from its current level of $60. The sanctions would specifically target "Russia's energy revenues, including Nord Stream infrastructure, Russia's banking sector" and would involve "lowering the crude oil price cap," the commission said.
Reps. Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., and Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, have introduced a bill that would require the Treasury Department to designate foreign entities that run large-scale scams on Americans as Foreign Financial Threat Organizations, Shreve announced last week.
The FBI is asking for information about people who may have been victimized by Funnull Technology Inc., the Philippines-based company that was sanctioned last month for providing computer infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of websites involved in virtual currency investment scams (see 2505290010). The agency said it’s investigating “fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms and companies,” and people who believe they have “fallen victim” to Funnull or another similar scammer should contact the FBI and provide “as many transaction details as possible, including cryptocurrency addresses, amount and type of cryptocurrency, date and time, and transaction ID (hash).”
Banks need more guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to comply with the agency’s new timeline for new sanctions-related recordkeeping requirements, which were extended from five years to 10 years (see 2503190003), the American Bankers Association said.
A grand jury indictment unsealed last week charges two people with trying to pay millions of dollars to ship U.S. export controlled technology and weapons to China, offering in some cases more than double the market rate to buy military jet engines, drones, cryptographic devices and other sensitive technologies.
China's Foreign Ministry criticized recent measures by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security to restrict exports of a range of items to China, saying Beijing "firmly" opposes the controls and "will resolutely defend our legitimate rights and interests."
Taiwanese Minister of Economic Affairs Jyh-Huei Kuo visited Texas last month to see two semiconductor facilities and discuss "enhancing" U.S.-Taiwan trade relations, Taiwan's International Trade Administration said last week. Kuo visited the opening of GlobalWafers’ new plant in Sherman, Texas, and traveled to Houston to visit Foxconn’s server plant, where he also hosted business roundtables with Houston-based Taiwanese business leaders.
The Energy Department last week approved a final authorization for liquefied natural gas exports to non-free trade agreement countries from the Port Arthur LNG Phase II energy project in Texas. The agency said this is the Trump administration's first final LNG export approval "and marks another step in restoring regular order to LNG export permitting -- reversing the previous administration’s pause and delivering on the president’s pledge to unleash American energy." Once completed in 2027, Port Arthur LNG Phase II is projected to export 1.91 billion cubic feet per day, the Energy Department said.