Christopher Stagg, an export controls lawyer and former senior official with the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, has joined Holland & Knight as a partner, the law firm announced. Stagg previously ran his own firm, Stagg PLLC.
The Bureau of Industry and Security named Tara Gonzalez as director of the agency’s Emerging Technology Division, she announced this week on LinkedIn. Gonzalez joined BIS in 2020, and was most recently a senior policy adviser within the division.
The Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) led a group of more than 20 shippers and trade associations in urging the Federal Maritime Commission Dec. 3 to implement the proposed Maritime Transportation Data System (MTDS) through a rulemaking.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has invited Costa Rica to join the pact, Canada said in a statement released Nov. 30. At the eighth CPTPP Commission meeting in Vancouver, the commission agreed to begin the accession process, originally requested by Costa Rica in 2022, noting the Central American country's "history as a supporter of the rules-based trading system, its experience with high-standard trade and investment rules, and [its] affirmation of its intention to comply with the obligations of the CPTPP." The accession process begins with the formation of an Accession Working Group, which will establish a timeline for Costa Rica's membership.
Chinese trade associations are urging domestic firms to be careful when buying U.S. semiconductors and semiconductor equipment in light of the new set of export controls released by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week (see 2412020016).
The State Department approved a possible $1.17 billion military sale to India, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Dec. 2. The sale includes “MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter “Equipment” and related support, and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems.
DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint Dec. 2 in the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, seeking the proceeds from the sale of a California music studio that are allegedly beneficially owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The complaint alleges that the proceeds, totaling $3.4 million, "are the proceeds of sanctions violations."
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said Dec. 2 that his bill to expand sanctions on Syria's Bashar Assad regime seems to have stalled in Congress but that he hopes to get it enacted into law next year if not this month.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on Dec. 3 criticized the Biden administration’s new export controls on advanced computing chips and chipmaking equipment, saying they leave too many loopholes that Chinese companies can exploit to obtain American technology and modernize China’s military. McCaul said he plans to work with the incoming Trump administration to close those loopholes. McCaul made his comments a day after the Bureau of Industry and Security unveiled the new restrictions (see 2412020016).
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he will block the purchase of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, though it's possible President Joe Biden will take care of that before Trump is inaugurated.