Chinese and South Korean officials met in China last week for an export control “consultation” to share information about their respective export restrictions, according to an unofficial translation of a Chinese Ministry of Commerce notice. The officials also held “in-depth exchanges” with industry officials who also attended the meeting, China said. “The two sides agreed to further strengthen communication and cooperation, promote the development of bilateral compliant trade, and jointly maintain the stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain and supply chain.”
Correction: Mark Handley, a lawyer with Duane Morris, spoke about European sanctions and export control enforcement during a Nov. 12 virtual event hosted by the Sanctions Center (see 2411120019).
The State Department approved a possible $160 million military sale to Greece, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 14. The sale includes "F-16 Engine Follow-On Support and other elements of logistics and program support," and the principal contractor will be General Electric Aerospace.
A Venezuelan national was sentenced Nov. 14 to 30 months in prison for his role in a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, a Venezuelan state-owned oil company, DOJ announced.
Legislation offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to block the sale of certain offensive U.S. weapons to Israel will be considered on the Senate floor the week of Nov. 18, the lawmaker said Nov. 13.
The U.N. Security Council, which plans to draft a resolution this month on Sudan’s civil war, should “enforce accountability for member states violating” the arms embargo for Sudan’s Darfur region, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Nov. 14.
A new Government Accountability Office report found that 73% of firearms recovered from the Caribbean and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from 2018 to 2022 could be sourced back to the U.S., underscoring the need to curb illegal gun exports to the region, a group of congressional Democrats said Nov. 14.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul., R-Texas, will not seek to lead the panel for another two-year term, a spokesperson said Nov. 15. McCaul had intended to request a waiver from term limits for House Republican committee leaders but has decided not to do so out of respect for his party's rules, the spokesperson said. As chairman, McCaul has advocated for tightening export controls on China, increasing enforcement of Iran sanctions and speeding up delivery of weapons to Israel. In the waning days of the current Congress, McCaul has been seeking to pass legislation restricting outbound investment in China (see 2410070008).
The Treasury Department issued a correction last week to fix a wrong date in its recently published final rule that will add 59 military bases to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. on Dec. 9 (see 2411070001). Treasury had written that the final rule was published in the Federal Register on Nov. 8, and it corrected that date to reflect the actual publication date of Nov. 7.
MetLife is “pleased” to have reached a settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control that resulted in a $178,421 penalty for alleged sanctions violations by its subsidiary, American Life Insurance Company (see 2411140052), a MetLife spokesperson emailed Nov. 14. The spokesperson added that the insurance company holds itself to “the highest professional and ethical standard.”