Japan recently updated its foreign end user list, which includes a list of entities that may have ties to weapons of mass destruction and which may be subject to added export license requirements. The new list takes effect Feb. 5, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said, according to an unofficial translation.
Japan has launched a “consultation hotline” for Japanese companies located in Canada, Mexico and China that may be affected by new U.S. tariffs announced by the Trump administration (see 2502030016), Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Feb. 2. The hotline will provide “thorough support to Japanese companies affected,” according to an unofficial translation, including individual consultations from “experts specializing in North America and other areas.”
The State Department approved a possible $900 million military sale to Japan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Jan. 31. The sale includes "Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) Block I Missiles" and related equipment, and the principal contractor will be RTX Corp.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill Jan. 31 that would direct the State Department to designate four Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Canada announced then later rescinded retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. after both sides reached an agreement to delay new tariffs this week.
Australia has announced sanctions on several groups and people under its counterterrorism financing sanctions authority, including an online group linked to attacks on critical infrastructure, entities tied to Russia and a senior Hezbollah official.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he officially brought back the Cuba Restricted List on Jan. 31, part of an effort by the Trump administration to reverse last-minute moves by President Joe Biden that removed certain sanctions against the country (see 2501220008 and 2501170021). The U.S. also added an entity to the list: Orbit, S.A., which the State Department said is a remittance-processing company with ties to the Cuban military. The Cuba Restricted List includes entities that are subject to certain financial restrictions because of their ties to the Cuban government.
Companies should expect Trump administration to take an increasingly aggressive stance on China-related inbound and outbound investment restrictions, especially because of the makeup of President Donald Trump’s team and key Cabinet officials, a former Treasury Department official and trade consultant said.
U.S. export controls are increasingly trending toward unilateral, extraterritorial restrictions as opposed to multilateral ones, and that could continue under the administration of President Donald Trump, said Jeannette Chu, vice president for national security policy at the National Foreign Trade Council.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., urged the Commerce Department Feb. 3 to strengthen export controls following the recent “breakthrough development” of an advanced artificial intelligence model by Chinese startup DeepSeek.