Trade groups representing three strong exporting sectors -- soybeans, semiconductors and medical devices -- and an expert in critical minerals trade all told the Senate Finance Committee that higher tariffs on all countries and products, and constantly changing tariff policy, aren't good for American competitiveness.
The Census Bureau will soon update AESDirect, the filing tool used to submit electronic export information in the Automated Export System, to allow all AESDirect users to see the partner government agency requirements that have been integrated in AESDirect, the agency said in a May 15 email to industry. Currently, some PGA requirements “were based on Pilot participation and were only available to those participants,” Census said. AESDirect will be updated May 20.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation emailed a reminder to industry this week about new sanctions reporting requirements for certain art dealers, real estate agents and insolvency practitioners. As of May 14, those people “are legally required to comply with relevant firms reporting obligations in the UK,” OFSI said, including reports about suspected sanctions violations.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two Hezbollah officials and two people who help the group receive money from overseas donors, which contribute a “significant portion of the terrorist group’s overall budget,” the Treasury Department said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license that eliminates the expiration date for certain authorized transactions with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, an international crude oil transportation project involving Russia, and the Tengizchevroil project, another oil venture involving Chevron and Kazakhstan. New General License 124 authorizes certain transactions with those projects that would normally be prohibited under a January determination that blocks the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia (see 2501100027).
China criticized new guidance from the Bureau of Industry and Security this week that said using Huawei Ascend chips likely violates export controls (see 2505130018), saying the announcement is another example of U.S. “unilateral bullying.”
The U.K. plans to impose swifter and more “robust” penalties on sanctions violators as part of an effort to better deter companies and others from breaching trade and financial restrictions, the country said this week.
Chris Pratt, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said May 15 that the Trump administration has directed him to address the delays and other complaints that are frequently made about the U.S. defense export process, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
Josh Hodges, former national security adviser to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Chris Slevin, chief of staff to Biden administration Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, have been appointed to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The Council of the European Union on May 13 reached an agreement that it said would improve the collection of value-added taxes "by making suppliers liable for the VAT paid on imports." The change will "likely" encourage foreign traders or platforms to use the "VAT import one-stop-shop," which is the EU's point of contact for importers of goods from third countries into the EU.