A World Trade Organization dispute panel issued its report in Vietnam's challenge to U.S. antidumping duty proceedings on fish fillets from Vietnam after both sides agreed to a solution (see 2501230022). The panel concluded the proceeding in light of the "mutually agreed solution." Vietnam brought the suit in 2018 to challenge the U.S. government's imposition of AD cash deposit requirements in the fifth, sixth and seventh reviews of the AD order, covering entries in 2007-2010. Vietnam claimed that the U.S. should have revoked the order following the seventh review and that the U.S. unlawfully used a country-wide AD rate based on adverse facts available against respondents that were not individually investigated.
The European Commission is considering exempting more than 80% of companies that otherwise would be subject to import tariffs under the bloc’s upcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said this week. Hoekstra said the EU has found that the law may disproportionately target companies that aren’t responsible for most carbon emissions.
After losing a USMCA dispute panel ruling on its measures to phase out genetically modified corn and crops treated with the herbicide glyphosate, Mexico announced this week it is repealing the decrees that addressed those issues.
DOJ is disbanding the National Security Division’s Corporate Enforcement Unit, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a Feb. 5 memo to agency employees. The elimination of the unit and others is part of an effort to “free resources to address more pressing priorities,” said the five-page memo, which also describes other changes to policies around charging, plea negotiations and sentencing. “Personnel assigned to the Unit shall return to their previous posts.”
An indictment was unsealed Feb. 4 charging Wisconsin resident Mark Buschman with selling firearms and related parts to buyers in Saudi Arabia without a license, exporting the items and "lying to federal prosecutors about it," DOJ announced. Buschman allegedly ran an "illegal export conspiracy" for more than five years, February 2019 to December 2024, and now faces a maximum of 42 years in prison and up to $1.5 million in fines.
Sergei Zharnovnikov, a Kyrgyzstan national, was charged this week with illegal smuggling and conspiring to illegally export firearms from the U.S. to Russia. Zharnovnikov, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, traveled to the U.S. last month for the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, where he was arrested.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., reintroduced a resolution Feb. 4 urging the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar's military.
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., said Feb. 4 that he intends to reintroduce a bill aimed at denying Iran's government access to the U.S. financial system. His No U.S. Financing for Iran Act, which he previously offered in October 2023, would prevent Iran from using U.S. financial institutions to engage in trade-related transactions, except for humanitarian purposes. Huizenga disclosed his plans in a statement welcoming President Donald Trump’s move to increase pressure on Iran over its support for terrorism (see 2502050020).
Eight Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, urged the State Department this week to sanction Chinese entities involved in transferring missile propellant ingredients to Iran.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.Y., said Feb. 6 that Democrats remain open to negotiating a deal with Republicans on a bill to sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials.