The U.K. and India agreed to a new free trade deal this week that will reduce tariffs for a range of goods in what will be a “huge economic win” for the U.K., the country announced. The U.K.’s trade agency said the agreement will reduce Indian tariffs on 90% of U.K. exports’ tariff lines -- including whiskey, cosmetics and medical devices -- and 85% of those lines are expected to become “fully tariff-free within a decade.” The U.K. also said it plans to reduce import duties that will lead to lower prices for clothes, footwear, and food products from India, including frozen shrimp.

The Trump administration needs a “bit more time” to review a congressional proposal to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said May 7.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is planning to replace the Biden-era AI diffusion rule that is scheduled to take effect May 15, an agency spokesperson said May 7.

Former senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials Matt Borman and Eileen Albanese have joined Akin, the firm announced this week. Borman -- who served more than two decades with BIS, including most recently as the principal deputy assistant secretary for export administration -- joins as a trade lawyer. Albanese, most recently the director of the BIS Office of National Security Controls, joins Akin as a regulatory adviser. Both Borman and Albanese left BIS earlier this year (see 2502240003).

National security attorneys Maria Alejandra del-Cerro and Elyssa Kutner have joined DLA Piper as partners in the national security and global trade practice, the firm announced. Del-Cerro is a former attorney in the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and joins DLA Piper from Crowell & Moring, where she'd worked as a partner since 2022. Kutner joins the firm from Sidley Austin, where she worked as an associate, then as counsel, since 2020.

The EU and the U.K. should strengthen trade and security ties in response to rising geopolitical tensions and threats posed by Russia, top European Parliament members said ahead of the first EU-U.K. summit May 19.

Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry will be the only entity capable of issuing non-preferential certificates of origin for Malaysian shipments destined to the U.S., the agency said this week, adding that the change will help address traders that use its ports to illegally transship foreign goods to the U.S. and evade certain American import duties.

The State Department approved a possible $181 million military sale to the Czech Republic, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said May 5. The sale includes communications equipment and logistics and program support. The principal contractor will be L3Harris Global Communications.

The House of Representatives passed several sanctions bills late May 5, including one aimed at officials who undermine democracy in the Republic of Georgia (see 2501070037).

The Senate Banking Committee voted 14-10 largely along party lines May 6 to approve John Hurley to be undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial crimes, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration.