Megan Barnhill, a former partner at Bryan Cave, has joined ArentFox Schiff as a partner in the international trade and investment practice, the firm announced. ArentFox said Barnhill focuses on issues involving trade, export controls, sanctions and reporting obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
World Trade Organization members on May 27 elected chairpersons for the 14 subsidiary bodies under the Council for Trade in Goods, the WTO announced. They are:
The Council of the European Union on May 27 adopted a "general approach" to negotiate with the European Parliament on a measure that would exempt most importers from the new carbon border tax rules (see 2505230008). The proposal also would simplify the carbon border adjustment mechanism rules for importers, the council said, including by simplifying "the authorisation procedure, the data collection processes, the calculation of embedded emissions, the emission verification rules, the calculation of the authorised CBAM declarants’ (parties wishing to import goods subject to the CBAM) financial liability during the year of imports into the EU, and the claim by authorised CBAM declarants for carbon prices paid in third countries." The council next will begin negotiations with Parliament.
Members of the EU Parliament's Committee on International Trade are in Washington this week to discuss political, trade and investment relations between the U.S. and the EU. The delegation, led by committee Chair Bernd Lange of Germany, will hold meetings May 27-29 with various U.S. agencies, lawmakers, business groups, trade union representatives, think tanks and academia. They will specifically talk about "how the tariffs imposed by the US administration are being applied, how business is adapting to the tariffs and how can EU-US trade tensions be eased moving forward," Parliament said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, applauded the Trump administration's decision last week to lift sanctions on Syria and urged the U.S. to help advance democracy in the country. "This is a positive step that will help Syria build a stable future," she said. "As we continue to lift restrictions, it is critical that we also increase our engagement with the Syrian authorities to help advance long-term stability, democracy and a more secure and prosperous future for the Syrian people and the region.”
The U.K. recently removed or amended entries from its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida, Zimbabwe, and Russia sanctions regimes.
The Trump administration confirmed this week it will not renew a general license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that has allowed Chevron to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang last week criticized U.S. export controls on advanced chips, saying restrictions against China have so far been a “failure.” He called on the government to allow Nvidia and other chip companies to more freely sell to China, which he said will help the U.S. economy.
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An upcoming fast-track process for certain deals filed with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. could apply to a broad range of American allies and transactions, although key questions remain about what foreign investors will need to do to qualify, law firms said this month.