Two Asia Society Policy Institute experts said the readouts from the call over the weekend between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng suggest the call was mostly logistical, planning for the next round of talks in Malaysia.
The U.K. added two people to its Haiti sanctions regime on Oct. 20. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation sanctioned Dimitri Herard, a "former Haitian police officer and head of the National Palace General Security Unit" who was charged by Haitian authorities with being complicit in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise; and Kempes Sanon, the leader of the Les Argentins gang.
China’s recently issued rare earth export controls were likely a response to the Commerce Department’s 50% rule for the Entity List and highlighted the ongoing communication issues between the two sides, said David Sacks, the White House’s AI policy adviser.
U.S. export controls on design technology for advanced computing chips have spurred China to speed up pursuing its own capabilities, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has informed U.S.-based Arrow Electronics that it will soon remove several of Arrow’s China-based affiliates from the Entity List, the electronics parts supplier said this week.
David Peters has been sworn in as assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement at the Bureau of Industry and Security, an agency spokesperson said in an e-mail Oct. 16. Peters, who received Senate confirmation earlier this month (see 2510080002), has pledged to “aggressively” enforce U.S. export controls (see 2506130035). Separately, the State Department said Thomas DiNanno was sworn in Oct. 10 as undersecretary for arms control and international security.
Multiple Bureau of Industry and Security employees working for the agency's Western regional office were recently laid off, two people with knowledge of the situation told Export Compliance Daily. The employees, who received "reduction-in-force" notices, were mostly export control analysts, compliance specialists and outreach specialists. A BIS spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.
Maura Rezendes, former head of the sanctions team at A&O Shearman, has joined Sidley as a partner in the global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice, the firm announced last week. Rezendes' practice centers on "regulatory compliance advice and counseling, transactional support, investigations and enforcement" of economic sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The EU on Oct. 16 issued updated FAQs about its dual-use export control regulations and its import ban on refined petroleum products that contain Russian crude oil. The export control FAQs cover due diligence and compliance obligations for EU exporters, as well as other guidance to help companies comply with the rules. The Russia oil FAQs outline the circumstances under which EU companies need to carry out "enhanced" due diligence to make sure an imported refined oil product doesn't contain Russia-origin oil.
The EU continued to largely approve most foreign direct investment deals submitted to its investment review cooperation mechanism, the European Commission said in its annual report on FDI, released this week.