Deutsche Bundesbank, the national central bank of Germany, recently published guidance to help customers and other operators comply with new snapback sanctions on Iran (see 2509290051). The bank stressed that all provisions of funds to sanctioned Iranian people or entities are blocked, and certain payments designed to send certain goods and technologies to Iran are "generally prohibited, such as certain goods, software and technologies that could contribute to Iran's military and technological strengthening," according to an unofficial translation. Other portions of the guidance outline potential exemptions, reporting requirements related to money transfers, and more.
The U.K. announced a host of new Russia-related sanctions this week, targeting major energy firms Rosneft and Lukoil, along with four oil terminals in China, 44 tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet and more. The U.K. also said it’s banning imports of oil products refined in third countries using Russian-origin crude oil.
China is looking to shorten its export license application review times, and potentially issue exemptions, as it approaches the Dec. 1 effective date of its new rules to restrict overseas exports that contain certain levels of Chinese-origin material (see 2510090021), a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said Oct. 16 during a press conference.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he's speaking with his counterparts in the EU, Australia, Canada, India and other parts of Asia about how they can respond to the new Chinese restrictions on rare earths. “We're going to have a fulsome, group response to this,” he said (see 2510150034).
President Donald Trump posted on social media that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long, "very productive" phone call on Oct. 16. In addition to talking about the ceasefire in Gaza and the first lady's efforts to get Ukrainian children held in Russia or Russia-occupied Ukraine back to their parents in free Ukraine, "we also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over," he wrote.
President Donald Trump, in response to a question about whether he would engage in trade talks with India, said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That's a big stop. Now I got to get China to do the same thing."
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said Oct. 16 that he welcomes Senate passage of a bill last week to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rick Crawford, R-Ark., reintroduced a bill Oct. 14 that would prohibit China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying or controlling agricultural land and businesses in the U.S. The Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act was referred to the House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs and Energy and Commerce committees. The lawmakers previously introduced the measure in the last Congress.
The U.K. on Oct. 16 amended one entry under its Russia sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated the listing for German Valentinovich Belous, director of Russian financial services company Novikombank, to describe his involvement in obtaining benefits from the Russian government.
The U.K.’s lead sanctions agency is expecting penalty decisions in a range of Russia-related enforcement actions next year, it said in its annual report released this week.